|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Call for archival images of McNeil's Nebula
Just a few weeks ago, Jay McNeil noticed an odd little
nebulosity in some images he had taken of the area around M78. It turns out that a very young star, still hidden within the cocoon of gas and dust out of which it formed, has become MUCH brighter than usual, or pushed lots of dust out of the way, or both. In any case, this sort of outburst by a very young star is a rare event. One can count the number of "fuors" (after "FU Orionis", one of the first of its class) on one's fingers and toes. You can read a lot more about this new object on any number of WWW pages; for example, http://spiff.rit.edu/orion/new_star.html One very interesting aspect is that this star appears to have had at least one prior outburst. A photograph taken back in 1966 by Evered Kreimer shows the object roughly as bright as it is now ... but images between 1966 and 2003 do not. Hmmmm. Thus, my plea: if any of you happen to have images of this area of the sky southwest of M78 -- specifically, near RA = 05:46:13.1, Dec = -00:06:05 -- taken before January 31, 2004, could you please check them for the presence of the object (or the faint nebulosity just north of it)? I am trying to make a historical record of the object's brightness, which may eventually become part of a paper in the technical literature (probably AJ or PASP). If you send me a copy of your image, together with details such as date, filter, film or camera type, telescope, etc., and I can make a good measurement of the object's brightness, I'll include you as a co-author on the paper. If you do NOT see the object, but can send me an estimate of the limit that places on the magnitude (again, with all the observational details), then I'll include you and your measurement in a table of upper limits. Measurements by amateurs can be important in the study of variable objects. Let me point you to the example of supernova 1994I in M51. The very earliest images we have showing this exploding star were taken by a pair of high school students in Pennsylvia and amateur astronomers in Spain and Germany. You can read a paper including their work at http://stupendous.rit.edu/richmond/94i_preprint.ps or look it up in the ADS system; search for author "Tartara". I look forward to hearing from you! Michael Richmond |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
X-Ray Outburst from Young Star in McNeil's Nebula (Forwarded) | Andrew Yee | Astronomy Misc | 0 | August 1st 04 05:34 PM |
Call for old images of McNeil's Nebula near M78 | Michael Richmond | Amateur Astronomy | 1 | February 28th 04 05:50 AM |
Hubble images being colorized to enhance their appeal for public - LA Times | Rusty B | Policy | 4 | September 15th 03 10:38 AM |