Narrowband Spaghetti

I’ve written many times about the power of looking at different wavelengths of light to study different properties of the universe.  From a visualization standpoint, there are other techniques that give you additional power when imaging.  More than just the wavelength of light you’re using to show the detail, you can choose the range of wavelengths to bring forward certain features while suppressing others. The aptly-named spaghetti nebula, shown above, is a great example of this.  A supernova remnant that covers the constellations Taurus and Auriga, the nebula is very large in the sky, covering three full moons worth (love that unit...

Vacation Week and APOD

Lucky me.  I’m taking a vacation next week. The same week that New Horizons will make it’s flyby of Pluto.  It just means I get to watch from the road, from the outside in for once.  I’m still looking forward to it, but with a cup of coffee and a national park as my venue, rather than a newsroom media call.  At any rate, my posting will continue as I still feel like my blog-a-day rationale is beneficial for me as a writer (and hopefully for you as the reader), though I might mix in a few of my own photos from a...