Deep-Sky Targets for New Moon - April 2021

The New Moon is fast approaching! Here are some deep-sky target suggestions for imaging on the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) remote telescope locations by Insight Observatory's partner, Telescopius.com...

	M4 - Globular Cluster Constellation Scorpius Mag.: 5.40 - Size: 36' RA 16hr 23' 35" DEC -27º 28' 30" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 87.1º at 05:29 hrs
	Tr 16 - Open Cluster Constellation Carina Mag.: 5.00 – Size: 10' RA 10hr 45' 06" DEC -60º 16' 59" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 87.1º at 05:29 hrs
	M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy Constellation Ursa Major Mag.: 7.90 – Size: 28.8' RA 14hr 03' 12" DEC 54º 20' 58" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 70.0º at 02:34 hrs.
	M67 - Open Cluster Constellation Cancer Mag.: 6.90 – Size: 25' RA 08hr 51' 17" DEC 11º 48' 59" ATEO-2A - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 67.5º at 21:22 hrs.
	M8 - Lagoon Nebula Constellation Sagittarius Mag.: 5.00 – Size: 45' RA 18hr 03' 41" DEC -25º 37' 00" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 84.9º at 07:09 hrs.
	M3 - Globular Cluster Constellation Canes Venatici Mag.: 6.30 – Size: 18' RA 13hr 42' 11" DEC 28º 22' 34" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 84.1º at 02:13 hrs.
	IC 2948 - Bright Nebula Constellation Centaurus Mag.: 7.00 – Size: 1.3º RA 11hr 39' 24" DEC -64º 31' 59" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 56.0º at 00:45 hrs.
	HCG 44 - Galaxy Cluster Constellation Leo Mag.: 10.00 – Size: 16.4' RA 10hr 18' 00" DEC 21º 48' 43" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 77.5º at 22:49 hrs.
	NGC 3324 - Gabriela Mistral Nebula Constellation Carina Mag.: 6.70 – Size: 16' RA 10hr 37' 18" DEC -59º 19' 59" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 60.8º at 23:43 hrs.
	NGC 5033 - Spiral Galaxy Constellation Canes Venatici Mag.: 10.20 – Size: 10.7' RA 13hr 13' 27" DEC 36º 35' 36" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 87.7º at 01:44 hrs

Help support Insight Observatory's educational outreach efforts by submitting your deep-sky image requests today on our Personal Image Request (PIR) application or login into your ATEO Portal account to request on our Basic or Advanced Image Request forms.

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Vela Nebula Image Sets from ATEO-3

There are new image sets available in Starbase, Insight Observatory's image set repository. These sets consist of combinations of H-Alpha, Oxygen III, and Red, Green, and Blue filtered image data of a section of the Vela Nebula (supernova remnant) located in the southern constellation of Vela. These image sets were acquired by Franck Jobard on Insight Observatory's 12.5" f/9 Ritchey-Chretien affiliate remote telescope ATEO-3 hosted at Deep Sky Chile.

The Vela supernova remnant's source Type II supernova exploded approximately 11,000 to 12,300 years ago. The association of the Vela supernova remnant with the Vela pulsar, made by astronomers at the University of Sydney in 1968, was direct observational evidence that supernovae form neutron stars.

An HaRGB section of the Vela Nebula supernova remnant acquired and processed by Franck Jobard on Insight Observatory's 12.5" f/9 Ritchey-Chretien affiliate remote telescope located at Deep Sky Chile.

This supernova remnant includes NGC 2736. It also overlaps the Puppis A supernova remnant, which is four times more distant. Both the Puppis and Vela remnants are among the largest and brightest features in the X-ray sky.

The Vela supernova remnant (SNR) is one of the closest known to us. The Geminga pulsar is closer (and also resulted from a supernova), and in 1998 another near-Earth supernova remnant was discovered, RX J0852.0-4622, which from our point of view appears to be contained in the southeastern part of the Vela remnant. One estimate of its distance puts it only 200 parsecs away (about 650 ly), closer than the Vela remnant, and, surprisingly, it seems to have exploded much more recently, in the last thousand years, because it is still radiating gamma rays from the decay of titanium-44. This remnant was not seen earlier because, in most wavelengths, it is lost because of the presence of the Vela remnant.

The Moon is the biggest single object in the night sky that’s visible to the eye alone. But many objects that are too faint to see are much bigger. The nebula spans about 16 times the width of the Moon, almost the size of your fist held at arm’s length and it’s getting bigger all the time.

Inverted image of the Vela Nebula supernova remnant imaged in Ha (upper left), and in Ha, OIII, and RGB (right), and ATEO-3, the 12.5" f/9 Ritchey-Chretien located at Deep Sky Chile.

When the supergiant star exploded, blasting its outer layers into space, those layers rammed into surrounding clouds of gas and dust, causing them to glow. If you look across the entire spectrum - from radio waves to X-rays - the nebula looks like a mound of billowing clouds.

When the star exploded, the outer layers were expelled at up to a few percent of the speed of light. So over the millennia, the nebula has inflated to a diameter of more than a hundred light-years. And it’s still expanding - at more than two million miles per hour.

Sources: Wikipedia and Stardate Online.

Search for Vela Nebula in the "Name" field in Starbase to access the Vela Nebula - Ha 6nm (2021) Vela Nebula - OIII 3nm (2021), and Vela Nebula - RGB (2021) image sets.

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APOD - The Pelican Nebula Imaged On ATEO-1

Insight Observatory is very proud and honored to announce its very first Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)! APOD is a well-known world wide web publication affiliated with NASA of a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe each day, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

The image that was selected for today's APOD is The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070 and IC 5067). The final image processed was produced from an image set created between May and September of 2020 for Starbase, Insight Observatory's image set repository. The exposure time is close to 15 hours imaged with H-Alpha, Luminance, Red, Green, and Blue filters on Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector (ATEO-1) remote telescope hosted at SkyPi Remote Observatory located in New Mexico.

IC 5070 and IC 5067 - The Pelican Nebula imaged on ATEO-1 by Muir Evenden, pre-processed by Michael Petrasko, and post-processed by Utkarsh Mishra with nearly 15 hours of Ha, LRGB image data available for download on Starbase.

The Pelican Nebula is an emission nebula located near the bright star Deneb in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. The nebula is named for its resemblance to a pelican and is associated with the neighboring North America Nebula and is one of several notable nebulae found in the area of the Northern Cross. It is an active star-forming region with a particularly active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds. The position and balance of the stars and gas will gradually change to leave the nebula looking completely different millions of years from now.

The Pelican Nebula is listed as IC 5070 and IC 5067 in the Index Catalogue. The nebula itself is cataloged as IC 5070, while IC 5067 is a prominent part of it, found along the curve of the celestial pelican’s head and neck. It is a ridge of emission spanning about 10 light-years, home to many newly formed stars.

The nebula’s appearance is defined by dark dust clouds, which outline the pelican’s long bill and eye, and bright clouds of ionized gas, which form the curved shape of the pelican’s head and neck.

Sources: Wikipedia and The Constellation Guide.

Search for IC 5070 in the "Name" field in Starbase to access the IC 5070-5067 - Ha (2020) and IC 5070-5067 - LRGB (2020) Pelican Nebula image sets.

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