M 1 (NGC 1952, Sh2-244) Bright Nebula in Taurus

Located at: RA 05 hours 34 minutes 32 seconds, Dec +22 degrees 01 minutes 00 seconds

Size: 6.0' x 4.0'; Magnitude: 7.4; Class: Supernova Remnant (Sharpless) 2 3 3

North is up

West to the right

Telescope:

 8" f5 Newtonian reflector

Camera:

 ST-8XME, self-guided, binned 1x1, temp -20c, camera control MaxIm DL 4.56

Image:

Lumicon Deep Sky filter, 240 minutes (24 x 10 minute subs) 02/10/11/2007; seeing 2.7-3.4 FWHM per CCDStack

Processing:

CCDStack 1.3.2, Photoshop 7.0

Location:

 Rolling Roof Observatory, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 (+34d 13m 29s -118h 52m 20s)

Notes:

 This object is a little small to show good detail at 1000mm focal length. I tried re-sampling the image to double the size, but I though it better to keep the same image scale / field of view for most of the images ... to better compare the actual angular sizes of the various objects as imaged with the 8" f5 Newtonian. This image replaces a 90 minute unfiltered Track & Accumulate image from 01/07/2006.

From the NGC / IC Project:

Contemporary Visual Observation(s) for NGC 1952
NGC 1952 = M1 =  Crab Nebula = LBN 833 = Sh 2-244 = Taurus A
05 34 32.0 +22 00 52
V = 8.5;  Size 6x4

17.5": very bright, unusual potato shape with an irregular surface brightness, 
6'x4', broad concentration towards center.  Very irregular elongated shape with 
extensions or "arms" towards the NW and SE, ragged edges at periphery.  A large 
dark indentation or "bay" intrudes on the NE side of the SE extension, so this 
end is thinner and less prominent.  A few faint stars are superimposed.  Using 
an OIII filter, the overall structure is muted but a bright inner streak is 
visible which is not noticeable without the filter.

13": large, bright, irregular potato shape, large indentation on following emd.

8": moderately bright, irregular shape, fairly large, indentation on the NW and 
SE ends.

- by Steve Gottlieb
Historical Research Notes / Correction for NGC 1952
NGC 1952 = M 1 = The Crab Nebula.  This is the prototypical supernova remnant 
(from SN 1054), and is now a large, bright nebula.  We have adopted the 
position of the pulsar near its center as the nebula's position as well.  The 
pulsar, by the way, is the southern of the two stars of similar brightness 
near the nebula's center.

There is evidence, however, that in this case at least, the star has a large 
proper motion -- it is no longer at the center of the nebulosity implied by 
the measured expansion of the knots and filaments, but is several arcsec to 
the northwest.  This is taken as evidence for an asymmetric supernova 
explosion which gave the star a powerful kick and set it off at high velocity.

In spite of all this, we're sticking with the position of the pulsar as the
center of the nebula for the time being.  Perhaps we'll change our minds in a
few thousand years when the star is well away from the center of the expanding
nebula. - Dr. Harold G. Corwin, Jr.