I spent some time organizing my video gear and astronomy room. I put together a little video clip of the new mount. Enjoy!
Extension Cables
NASA IOTD
Remnant of a Supernova
Vital clues about the devastating ends to the lives of massive stars can be found by studying the aftermath of their explosions. In its more than twelve years of science operations, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has studied many of these supernova remnants sprinkled across the galaxy. The latest example of this important investigation is Chandra's new image of the supernova remnant known as G350.1-0.3. This stellar debris field is located some 14,700 light years from the Earth toward the center of the Milky Way. Evidence from Chandra and from ESA's XMM-Newton telescope suggest that a compact object within G350.1+0.3 may be the dense core of the star that exploded. The position of this likely neutron star, seen by the arrow pointing to "neutron star" in the inset image, is well away from the center of the X-ray emission. If the supernova explosion occurred near the center of the X-ray emission then the neutron star must have received a powerful kick in the supernova explosion. Data suggest this supernova remnant, as it appears in the image, is 600 and 1,200 years old. If the estimated location of the explosion is correct, this means the neutron star has been moving at a speed of at least 3 million miles per hour since the explosion. Another intriguing aspect of G350.1-0.3 is its unusual shape. Many supernova remnants are nearly circular, but G350.1-0.3 is strikingly asymmetrical as seen in the Chandra data in this image (gold). Infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (light blue) also trace the morphology found by Chandra. Astronomers think that this bizarre shape is due to stellar debris field expanding into a nearby cloud of cold molecular gas. The age of 600-1,200 years puts the explosion that created G350.1-0.3 in the same time frame as other famous supernovas that formed the Crab and SN 1006 supernova remnants. However, it is unlikely that anyone on Earth would have seen the explosion because of the obscuring gas and dust that lies along our line of sight to the remnant. These results appeared in the April 10, 2011 issue of The Astrophysical Journal. Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/I. Lovchinsky et al; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Monthly Archive: January 2010
Jan
28
2010
Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/some-new-video-of-cgem-mount.html
Jan
26
2010
New Gear Pictures and Organizing of the Astronomy Room
My schedule at work has been pretty hectic the past 6 weeks or so. I had some time tonight free and thought it was good time to start organizing my gear. I have lots of gear and noticed last time I went to setup the new CGEM that I was rummaging through much of …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/new-gears-pictures-and-organizing-of-the-astronomy-room.html
Jan
16
2010
Quick update on Penguin Rock Observatory Relocation
The new observatory dome and building structure was relocated from Long Lake, Ny to my house in Dalton, Ma today. I rented a 24 ft truck to relocate the observatory which had been dismantled in sections and marked for easy reassembly by previous owner. The trip for most part was uneventful, besides some very rough …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/quick-update-on-penguin-rock-observatory-relocation.html
Jan
09
2010
A few quick pictures of new Celestron Edge 800HD OTA mounted on CGEM
new Edge 800 ota and mounted it in side by side setup with my Meade 80mm ED5000 APO on the CGEM
Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/a-few-quick-pictures-of-the-new-celestron-edge-800-ota-mounted-on-cgem.html