{"id":49481,"date":"2023-09-12T09:37:06","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T09:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4daafb79-112a-423e-9684-0ededb5a2e10"},"modified":"2023-09-12T10:32:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T10:32:32","slug":"how-amateur-astrophotographers-captured-the-spin-nebula","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/how-amateur-astrophotographers-captured-the-spin-nebula\/","title":{"rendered":"How amateur astrophotographers captured the Spin Nebula"},"content":{"rendered":"

Astrophotographers tracked down and photographed a planetary nebula known as the Spin Nebula in the Gum 14\/15 nebula complex. <\/p>

By Russell Deeks\n <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 12 September 2023 at 09:37 AM<\/p>

\n\n

How amateur astrophotographers captured the Spin Nebula<\/h1>

A group of amateur astrophotographers managed to track down and photograph a little-known dying star named the Spin Nebula.<\/p>

Teamwork makes the dream work, says the old clich\u00e9\u2026 and it\u2019s a maxim that proved true for ShaRA.<\/p>

This group of astronophotographers, through their collaborative efforts, produced the first high-resolution image of a distant planetary nebula<\/a>.<\/p>

The group of 22 mostly Italian astronomers started the ShaRA (Shared Remote Astrophotograph)<\/a> project as a way of pooling both their financial resources to buy imaging time on large telescopes, and their technical skills to obtain the best results from the collected data.\u00a0<\/p>

A wide-field view of the the Gum 14\/15 nebula complex, a pair of neighbouring emission nebulae in the constellation of Vela. Credit: ShaRA Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>

They decided to look at the Gum 14\/15 nebula complex, a pair of neighbouring emission nebulae<\/a> in the constellation of Vela.<\/p>

Few amateur images of this region exist, but using Atacama-based Chilescope\u2019s T5 telescope, the group managed to capture the stunningly detailed widefield image seen here.<\/p>

Things started to get really interesting, though, when group members noticed a small object in the top-left of the image.<\/p>

It had the typical appearance of a planetary nebula.<\/p>

What is a planetary nebula?<\/strong><\/h2>
\"Planetary
The Helix Nebula is one of the most famous planetary nebulae. Credit: NASA, NOAO, ESA, Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M Meixner and T A Rector – NASA, NOAO, ESA, the Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner (STScI), and T.A. Rector (NRAO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Planetary nebulae are fascinating objects, and they don’t actually have anything to do with planets.<\/p>

A planetary nebula is formed during the later stages of a star\u2019s life, as instability at its core causes the outer layers of the star to be shed into space.<\/p>

Stellar wind pushes this material away from the star, which interacts with surrounding material to create beautiful structures, puffed-out like a planetary body (hence the name).<\/p>

Exploring further…<\/strong><\/h2>

Some digging through astronomical databases and catalogues revealed that the object found by ShaRA had to be He 2-11, which was first described by US astronomer and astronaut Karl Henize in 1967.\u00a0<\/p>

Henize\u2019s suggestion that this was a planetary nebula was confirmed by further research in 1999.<\/p>

In 2014 closer analysis based on data from the Chandra Observatory revealed it to be one of just three such nebulae known to have a variable binary star<\/a> as its central star(s).\u00a0<\/p>

All interesting stuff, but in terms of images, all that existed of He 2-11 was still just a handful of blurry black and white pictures.<\/p>

\"A
A wide-field view of the the Gum 14\/15 nebula complex,showing the location of the Spin Nebula (inset). Credit: ShaRA Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Zooming in on the Spin Nebula<\/strong><\/h2>

Accordingly, the ShaRA team booked some more time from Chilescope, this time using its T1 telescope.<\/p>

And so, many hours of observing and processing time later, were eventually able to produce the detailed, first-of-its-kind colour image seen in the inset above.<\/p>

The ShaRA team nicknamed He 2-11 \u2018the Spin Nebula\u2019 \u2013 a nod to its fast-rotating central binary \u2013 and say their hope is that their image will encourage other amateur astronomers to keep on pushing themselves ever further.<\/p>

This article originally appeared in the September 2023 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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