Pac man nebula - Comparison with old images

[Skywatcher]

Well last night was my first chance for some deep sky stuff for absolutely ages and the Pac man was flying high in the sky

The trick to decent images is collecting loads of extra data and that means longer and more exposures, last year I took this which was 10 3 minute subframes at ISO 1600 (noisy)

you can tell its pac man shaped if nothing else



Last night I set up early as it was dark by gone 8 and took 4 hours worth of 8 minute subframes at ISO 800 then left the scope taking 4 hours of dark frames ( to remove the noise in the background)

(looks better if you click to make it big) - I like the star colours the old red giant stars and the young hot blue ones


Close up and processed


Hope you can see the difference between the years

Oh an cos Mick keeps asking this is what 1 of the pics looks like straight out of the camera pre stacking and pre subtraction of darks and offsets and pre processing

[Britchick]

wow!

[Isafari]

Magnificent!

[Keith]

Never ceases to amaze me

[Vixynne]

Amazing photos...how far into deep space is the Pac-Man Nebula?

[foreverducky]

This is awesome! I am always amazed and so grateful that you share your photos with us.

[piglet]

[Skywatcher]

Amazing photos...how far into deep space is the Pac-Man Nebula?

It is 10,000 light years away

Makes my brain go all fuzzy just thinking about that.

[Vixynne]

It is 10,000 light years away

Makes my brain go all fuzzy just thinking about that.

So the light entering your camera lens that night left the nebula sometime around 8000 B.C....

Here's what Wikipedia says was going on at that time in history.

• c. 8000 BC—Ice Age ends.
• c. 8000 BC—Upper Paleolithic period ends.
• c. 8000 BC—2300 BC—Neolithic period.
• c. 8000 BC—Settlement in Franchthi Cave in Pelopponese, Greece, continues. First evidence of seed and animal stocking (lentils, almonds) and obsidian trade with Melos. The settlement was continuously occupied since 20,000 BC and abandoned in 3,000 BC.
• c. 8000 BC—Settlements at Nevali Cori in present-day Turkey are established.
• c. 8000 BC—Settlements at Akure in present-day southwest Nigeria are established.
• c. 8000 BC—Settlements at Ærø, Denmark are established.
• c. 8000 BC—Settlements at Deepcar near present-day Sheffield, England are established.
• c. 8000 BC—North American Arctic is inhabited by hunter-gatherers of the Paleo-Arctic Tradition.
• c. 8000 BC—Pre-Anasazi Paleo-Indians move into the Southwest United States.
• c. 8000 BC—World population: 5,000,000
• c. 8000 BC—Glaciers form the rock formation in present-day New Hampshire, USA formerly known as the "Old Man of the Mountain."
• North Sea: North Sea bottoms are largely dry land before this period. England
• Pottery making, burial mound construction, and garden technology Mexico
• In the valley of Mexico, chili peppers and "grain" (amaranth & maize) are grown.
• Domestication of the cat and ox in Ancient Egypt
• Domestication of sheep in Southwest Asia
• Huts, hearths, granaries, and nonportable stone tools for grinding grains Africa
• Catal Huyuk,Asia men wear animals skins, plus hats of the same material

*brainboggle*

Makes you wonder what will be going on when the light that left that nebula last night finally arrives within range of stargazers on Earth...

[Skywatcher]

That exactly he kind of thing I love to think about when I look at these objects - what was happening here when the light left that beautiful object all that time ago.

I love feeling about the whole thing