View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeremy Likness in Monroe, Washington, captured this telescopic view of the California Nebula (NGC 1499) in Taurus on December 3, 2022. He wrote: “West of the Pleiades is a red streak that spans 2.5 degrees of sky. NGC 1499 is the designation for an emission nebula that emits mostly in a set of narrow hydrogen bands. Named for its distinct shape, this is the California Nebula.” Thank you, Jeremy! See more of December’s deep sky below.
Photos of the December deep sky
Enjoy these December deep-sky photos. See diffuse nebulae, as well as a star cluster and a supernova remnant. These images are all from members of the EarthSky community. Do you have a great photo to share? Submit it here.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Karrar Mohammed in Alkut, Iraq, captured this telescopic view of the Pleiades star cluster on December 17, 2022. He wrote: “The Pleiades, also known as the 7 Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism. It is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light-years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth. It is the nearest Messier object to Earth. And it’s the most obvious cluster to the unaided eye in the night sky.” Thank you, Karrar!
A supernova remnant
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeremy Likness in Monroe, Washington, captured the Crab Nebula (Messier 1) in Taurus on December 15, 2022. He wrote: “In the late 1600s, comet hunter Charles Messier mistakenly observed a smudge he thought was a comet but realized it wasn’t moving. Annoyed, he started a catalog of things to avoid, and entry M1 was the Crab Nebula. This time of year, it remains high in the sky all night in the Pacific Northwest, so I took advantage of 2 clear nights to capture just over 5 hours of data. You are looking at the remnants of a stellar explosion or supernova that happened less than 10,000 years ago. The light took 6,500 years to reach my telescope.” Thank you, Jeremy!
Bottom line: Members of the EarthSky community shared these amazing photos of December’s deep sky.
Armando is known primarily as an astronomy educator, after 30+ years of extensive public outreach and 10 years teaching in colleges. As one of only a handful of science communicators in Puerto Rico during Comet Halley's last visit, he assumed a pioneering role starting in 1985 when science was just beginning to enter the collective mindset. Over the years, his work as a teacher, speaker and writer, inspired people to pursue interests in science and brought enduring change to Puerto Rican culture. After being accepted into the 2014–2015 Antarctic season of PolarTREC, Armando was assigned to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where in 2015 he successfully conducted 10 days of work at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. His affiliations include Ana G. Méndez University, Cupey campus (2014 to 2021), the University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla campus (2015 to 2017), NASA JPL's Solar System Ambassadors (2004 to 2006), and NASA Space Grant (2017 to 2019) where he served as an affiliate representative.
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