Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Taurus (Tau)  ·  Contains:  4 Vesta  ·  7.02  ·  Crab nebula  ·  HD245310  ·  HD36879  ·  HD37013  ·  LBN 833  ·  M 1  ·  NGC 1952  ·  PGC 1653135  ·  PGC 1660066  ·  PGC 1664818  ·  Sh2-244
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Vesta and the Crab Nebula, Chris Laurel
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Vesta and the Crab Nebula

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Vesta and the Crab Nebula, Chris Laurel
Powered byPixInsight

Vesta and the Crab Nebula

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Description

The asteroid 4 Vesta passed close to the Crab Nebula on January 10–13, 2024. I captured a sequence of images at about the same time on four nights of the encounter. Vesta had an apparent magnitude of 6.95 during the encounter — the brightest asteroid in the same frame as the supernova remnant with the highest surface brightness.

The rainbow streaks are the result of using a mono camera and a filter wheel to shoot a moving target. I decided to leave them in because they make it absolutely obvious which object in the field is the asteroid. They also just make the image a little more fun.

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Vesta and the Crab Nebula, Chris Laurel