Photo by Jay Hyman – see red lines for supernova
Janaury’s RACOBs on Friday the 31st started out with some rather pesky high clouds obscuring most of the sky. However by 8pm the skies started to clear up and stayed mostly clear the rest of the night. We had about 20 Raleigh Astronomy Club members in attendance and several guests.
One of the most sought after targets of the evening was the type 1a supernova SN2014J in the Cigar Galaxy (also known as M82 or NGC 3034). It is estimated that M82 is 11.5 million light years away; that means we are just now seeing this supernova explosion even though it happened 11.5 million years ago!
We were also treated to some amazing views from member Travis W. and his setup using Live View off of his modified Olympus E-PM2 camera. The views of the Rosette Nebula, The Horsehead & Flame Nebulas and the Orion Nebula and the Running Man Nebulas were quite jaw dropping. You can read more about Travis’ image captures in the following CloudyNights posting, click HERE.
Rosette Nebula – Photo by Travis Willis
Horsehead and Flame Nebula – Photo by Travis Willis
Orion and Running Man Nebula – Photo by Travis Willis
Some other targets for observation included the Great Nebula in Orion (M42), Jupiter, M81, The Leo Triplet (M65, M66 and NGC 3628) and the Beehive Cluster (M44).
The last of the observers pack up by around 1:30am.
