Pencil NebulaSupernova remnant in Vela
In the austral constellation Vela, at a distance of 800 light-year from Earth and 11000 years ago an star did become a Supernova and exploded.
The shock wave (currently expanding at roughly 650.000 km/h) sweeps the interstellar medium adding new elements and compressing the dust and gases, that build the beautiful and complex filaments shown in the picture.
Part of the supernova remnant appears in this photography of the “Pencil Nebula”, named after in telescopes it is seen as a bright segment (although some current astronomers and amateurs, as are able to see more details in the photography, prefer to use the more appropriate nickname “Witch's Broom Nebula”...).
This photography was taken at San Antonio de Areco, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, in two sessions separated by more than one year: 33x5 minutes ISO 1600 subframes the 1-6-2016 and 21x5 minutes ISO 800 subframes on 3-24-2017, summing up 4 hours 30 minutes of total integration time.
The used equipment setup: Newton GSO 200 F4 with GPU Comma Corrector, Canon 600D/T3i modified and refrigerated (sensor measured and regulated temperature 2°C), Astronomik CLS CCD filter, SkyWatcher NEQ6 mount, and homemade electronic focuser and anti-dew systems.
Technical data
| Acquisition site | San Antonio de Areco, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Acquisition date | 1-6-2016 3-24-2017 |
| Instrument | Newton GSO F4 200 with GPU coma corrector. |
| Mount | Sky-Watcher NEQ6, managed by EQmod |
| Guide | Off-Axis, with Lodestar camera |
| Camera | Modified Canon 600D/T3i No IR Filter (Full Spectrum mod, using Astronomik MC Clear) Refrigerated (regulated temperature) |
| Camera sensor temperature | 2°C (on-sensor measured and regulated) |
| Filter | Astronomik Clip CLS CCD |
| Integration | 33 x 5 minutes subframes at ISO 1600 - 21 x 5 minutes subframes at ISO 800 Total integration time: 4 hs, 30 min |
| Calibration | 49 flats, 400 bias, 84 darks. |
| Resolution | 1.1 arcsec/pixel 787 mm actual focal, 4.2 um x 4.2 um pixels |
| Native size | 5202 x 3465 pixels |
| Cropped size | 5022 x 3276 pixels |
| FOV | 1°32’ x 1° |
| Image center coordinates | RA: 09 h 00 min 12 sec Dec: -45° 57' 35" Rotation: 7° |
| Process | PixInsight 1.8 |