Thursday 23 May 2013

Object of the Month: Eagle Nebula (Messier 16)

Messier 16, or the Eagle Nebula, was made famous in 1995 by the Hubble Space Telescope's Pillars of Creation photograph, showing the great towering columns of gas and the star formation within them. Now is the perfect time to have a go at your own version with the nebula in the ideal position for observing for the next few weeks.

Combined BVR and H-Alpha photo from the BRT


History

The Eagle Nebula was discovered in 1745 by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux and was so named because its shape resembles an eagle. The nebula is about seven thousand light years away and its pillars are around nine and a half light years high - that's double the distance from the sun to Alpha Centauri, our closest star. The Eagle Nebula is a stellar nursery where protostars are constantly being formed. Because of this it's very rich in Hydrogen. Using the Telescope's Hydrogen-Alpha filter gives you stunning pictures of the areas of star formation.

H-Alpha photo showing star formation taken by the BRT

Last chance to see?

 Evidence from the Spitzer Telescope suggests that the famous columns may already have been destroyed by a supernova that occurred in the region eight to nine thousand years ago. Don't worry, there's still time to get some good pictures in! The light showing us the destruction of the nebula won't arrive for another thousand years.

BVR colour image taken by the BRT

 Top Tips

  • As with all nebulae, Messier 16 is relatively faint so use an exposure time of two minutes (120000ms).
  • Take your picture with galaxy cam - it is too small to see on cluster cam.
  • Use the BVR or Clear filters to take great pictures of the visible light coming off the nebula.
  • Using the H-Alpha filter will give you a great high contrast black and white image. The stars will be fainter and the clouds brighter against a dark background.
Leave a comment below with a link to your fabulous gallery picture of Messier 16!
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous24 May 2013 at 22:59

    Just a thought / request for newbies . . . I'm new to using the telescope at telescope.org and would appreciate help in understanding what to expect and how to use it properly. I put in requests months ago and they're still waiting. I'm not sure if they're even possible (e.g. would the system reject a request that it can't accomplish, but would the system be able to determine this or does it expect the human to know more than a newbie).

    I looked for help in manuals, etc, but didn't find any. So, if possible, some newbie help here or somewhere would be great!

    Thanks! Bert.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. noah man21 September 2013 at 17:41

      I think they wait for good conditions to do a request because you need perfect conditions to get pictures of things in space with the atmosphere stuff like that.

      Delete
  2. Rev. William Yaeger3 October 2013 at 12:24

    Bert is right, there needs to be instruction on how to use the BRT, how the the requests in the hopper are prioritized. What is the altitude in Deg. cut off for too low, how to find out what is best objects to look at now, or conversely, find out when to ask for your favorite deep space object. Considering the educational mission of the project, and that it is run by an accredited University you would think someone would have at least have thought about it...

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