Vela Supernova Remnant

Field centered on R.A. 08h 35m & DEC -41กใ 40'

The explosion is over but the consequences continue. About eleven thousand years ago a star in the constellation of Vela could be seen to explode, creating a strange point of light briefly visible to humans living near the beginning of recorded history. The outer layers of the star crashed into the interstellar medium, driving a shock wave that is still visible today. A roughly spherical, expanding shock wave is visible in X-rays. The above image captures much of that filamentary and gigantic shock in visible light, spanning almost 100 light years and appearing twenty times the diameter of the full moon. As gas flies away from the detonated star, it decays and reacts with the interstellar medium, producing light in many different colors and energy bands. Remaining at the center of the Vela Supernova Remnant is a pulsar, a star as dense as nuclear matter that completely rotates more than ten times in a single second (text adapted from APOD).

More than 38 hours of total exposures went into this 4 panels mosaic covering about 140 square degrees of sky. Click here to go to a zoomable version up to 4000x4000 pixels!

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Pentax 67 lens SMCP 300 mm ED(IF) @ f4 + Paramount ME FLI Proline 16803, binning 1x1, T=-30°C Ha (920m) OIII (890) R (160m) G (160m) B (160m) Baader LRGB - AD Ha/OIII

Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia

M.Lorenzi

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

All of the photographs and text on these pages are copyrighted by Marco Lorenzi. They may not be reproduced, published, copied or transmitted in any form, including electronically on the Internet or World Wide Web, without written permission of the author.