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Amazing pic's of space
taken from back garden
Pictured: Spectacular images of deep space caught by an
amateur astronomer - from his back garden
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Image of the Great Nebula in
Orion
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It may have taken NASA millions of dollars and over a decade
to design a space telescope that could capture truly
spectacular images of deep space.
But an amateur astronomer has now caught the same dazzling
constellations - from his back garden.
Greg Parker, a professor of electronics at Southampton
University, spent less than £10,000 on his equipment but
invested thousands of hours to perfect the amazing images.
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Stunning: The
Belt Region of Orion with Horsehead Nebula on the left
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He
used a specialised digital camera, which is refrigerated to boost
its performance, and a 28cm reflecting telescope, from a portable
observatory at his home in the New Forest.
But each image took hours of careful attention to capture.
Professor Parker has to move the fibreglass dome in his back
garden observatory every half hour by hand to photograph the
changing sky. And the results are truly amazing.
'The images really are of the highest quality, particularly of
the reflection of nebulae in Orion,' said Professor Parker.
'Bright blue reflection nebulae are caused by dust particles
scattering short wavelength (blue) light from a nearby star much
more efficiently than longer wavelength (red) light,' he explained.
'The eerie-looking M78 in Orion is a fine example.'
| The
Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters or Seven Stars |
The
incredible images include one of the Pleiades - also known as the
Seven Sisters or Seven Stars - one of our closest star clusters in
the constellation of Taurus.
Professor Parker also photographed the Andromeda galaxy, also known
as Messier 31 or M31, a spiral galaxy about 2.5 million light-years
away, and the belt of Orion, which is thought to be the most visible
constellation in our sky.
The images will be available in a book - Star Vistas - early next
year.
Leading astronomer Patrick Moore comments in the book: 'The pictures
are of real scientific value, and they are also works of art.'
Devoted: Professor Parker with
observatory in his back garden in the New Forest
Source:
Dailymail.co.uk
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