April 2020 - Monthly Challenge.

Place your submissions in the appropriate Topic.

Moderator: kt4hx

Post Reply
User avatar
KingClinton
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 2207
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:45 pm
4
Location: Durban, South Africa.
Status:
Offline

TSS Photo of the Day

April 2020 - Monthly Challenge.

#1

Post by KingClinton »


APRIL 2020 MONTHLY CHALLENGE.

Once again, thanks you for all the great suggestions that were put forward for this months targets. :text-thankyouyellow:
All the suggested targets were put into a random draw generator and we have our winners!

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE - M44, THE BEEHIVE CLUSTER.
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE - NGC 3372.


Many thanks to those members that put the above suggestions forward! :text-thankyoublue:

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE - M44, the Beehive cluster.

M44 is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. At a magnitude of +3.09 it is visible to the naked eye but not resolvable and is a easy binocular and telescope target.
This is what Wikipedia has to say, the link to the wikipedia page is linked below.
In 1609, Galileo first telescopically observed the Beehive and was able to resolve it into 40 stars. Charles Messier added it to his famous catalog in 1769 after precisely measuring its position in the sky. Along with the Orion Nebula and the Pleiades cluster, Messier's inclusion of the Beehive has been noted as curious, as most of Messier's objects were much fainter and more easily confused with comets. Another possibility is that Messier simply wanted to have a larger catalog than his scientific rival Lacaille, whose 1755 catalog contained 42 objects, and so he added some well-known bright objects to boost his list.[12] Wilhelm Schur, as director of the Göttingen Observatory, drew a map of the cluster in 1894.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beehive_Cluster

Here is a screenshot from Stellarium.
M44-border.jpg


SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE - NGC 3372.


NGC 3372 is also known as the Eta Carina Nebula. NGC 3372 is a large bright nebula in the constellation Carina.
This is a great target for both binoculars and a telescope.
Wikipedia has this to say, link to the article below.
The Carina Nebula (catalogued as NGC 3372; also known as the Grand Nebula, Great Nebula in Carina, or Eta Carinae Nebula) is a large, complex area of bright and dark nebulosity in the constellation Carina, and is located in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm. The nebula is approximately 8,500 light-years (2,600 pc) from Earth.
The nebula is one of the largest diffuse nebulae in our skies. Although it is four times as large as and even brighter than the famous Orion Nebula, the Carina Nebula is much less well known due to its location in the southern sky. It was discovered by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in 1752 from the Cape of Good Hope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carina_Nebula

And a screenshot of NGC 3372 from Stellarium.
NGC-3372-border.jpg


And that folks concludes our monthly target roundup.
Get out under the night skies and have fun finding, imaging, sketching or simply allowing your eye to soak up photons through the eyepiece!
We look forward to any images, sketches or visual reports you have.

:observer: :sprefac: :observatory:
Eyeballs, binoculars, sketch box, Scopes n stuff.
Some people don't understand why I love astronomy so much, I cannot understand why they do not!

Image
User avatar
yobbo89 Australia
Moderator
Moderator
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 2561
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 7:44 pm
4
Location: australia qld brisbane
Status:
Offline

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: April 2020 - Monthly Challenge.

#2

Post by yobbo89 »


very nice, i'll add on, The large surrounding are is the "carina nebula" ,i think eta carina/carinae ? is the name of the star system in the homunculus nebula which is located in the center of the carina nebula , dual star orbit, one star exploded in about 1838 but survived and shedded it's gas which produced a cloud of nebolisty known as the homunculus nebula.

I think the stars orbit every 5 and 1/2 years, the system is set to explode again anytime soon , i think there was news piece on it the end off last year or the start of this year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:3D_H ... Nebula.jpg

The keyhole nebula is in proximity of eta carinae .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Keyh ... _crop).jpg

I think this is correct, feel welcome for comments on it, a big large confusing object !

i posted my image with some details on the locations of the object below.
Attachments
carina 4 panel full ILL.jpg
Last edited by yobbo89 on Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .

Image
User avatar
yobbo89 Australia
Moderator
Moderator
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 2561
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 7:44 pm
4
Location: australia qld brisbane
Status:
Offline

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: April 2020 - Monthly Challenge.

#3

Post by yobbo89 »


here is wikis list of the targets, i guess i labeled them correct, where is mystic mountain !!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NGC_3372d.jpg
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .

Image
User avatar
KingClinton
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 2207
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:45 pm
4
Location: Durban, South Africa.
Status:
Offline

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: April 2020 - Monthly Challenge.

#4

Post by KingClinton »


Thanks for the great additional information and images!

This is such a nice area of the night sky that it actually needs a whole night on it's own.
Just checking out the open clusters in the nebula will keep you busy enough, as you can see in this screen shot from Skysafari.
Screenshot_20200401-184417-540x960.png
Eyeballs, binoculars, sketch box, Scopes n stuff.
Some people don't understand why I love astronomy so much, I cannot understand why they do not!

Image
Post Reply

Create an account or sign in to join the discussion

You need to be a member in order to post a reply

Create an account

Not a member? register to join our community
Members can start their own topics & subscribe to topics
It’s free and only takes a minute

Register

Sign in

Return to “Submissions”