This is the Traingulum Galaxy, otherwise known as M33. It is a fairly large spiral galaxy close to Andromeda.You can see the dark brown dust lanes and the red "knots" where there is ongoing star formation in the spiral arms. I hope to add some Ha (Hydrogen Alpha) data to this image at a later date. This requires additional long exposures with a narrow band filter that allows only hydrogen emission wave lengths. What the hell does this mean?
Well, star formation is creating lots of radiation that excites the clouds of nearby hydrogen, causing it to glow red. By using a filter that focuses on this red bandwidth, one can really bring out those cool formation areas -- so you can see those cute little red star nurseries : )
This image was taken in Atoka with my normal rig (FSQ 106, QHY8 camera) and a 3 hour exposure.
2 comments:
This is a knockout John and I want to use it in a painting!! Always lovin' the astro photos as they send my mind elsewhere.
Hey Bob, please use whatever reference you find in the wormhole that moves you... its OUR universe!
Oh, and don't forget to send me five bucks (I kid, I kid)!
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