[Image Credit & Copyright: Lóránd Fényes]
For those who don't know, a light year is the DISTANCE light travels in a year at its more or less constant speed of 186,000 miles per second. It works out to about 5.9 TRILLION miles. That's 5.9 THOUSAND TIMES a BILLION (miles)!
Absolutely beautiful, SunkenCiv!
Thanks for another great one.
Hey I love Gas Clouds!
What is more interesting in that photo is M52.
Every year, many Astronomy Clubs, including the one I am in, have what is known as a Messier Marathon. The idea is to see and catalog as many of Mr. Messier’s objects as you can over the course of one night. A dark sky near March 22nd is the best time. I have seen up to 109 of the objects in one night, only missing M30 because of sky glow. I have done it enough that I can find almost all of the objects on the list from memory. M52 is one that I cannot.
It is placed in a rich part of the Milky Way, with absolutely no bright finder stars nearby. I abhor GOTO (except for astrophotography) and don’t use setting circles. This makes M52 a tough character to find. Each year, I spend more time trying to find it than almost any other.
Hey I love Gas Clouds!
What is more interesting in that photo is M52.
Every year, many Astronomy Clubs, including the one I am in, have what is known as a Messier Marathon. The idea is to see and catalog as many of Mr. Messier’s objects as you can over the course of one night. A dark sky near March 22nd is the best time. I have seen up to 109 of the objects in one night, only missing M30 because of sky glow. I have done it enough that I can find almost all of the objects on the list from memory. M52 is one that I cannot.
It is placed in a rich part of the Milky Way, with absolutely no bright finder stars nearby. I abhor GOTO (except for astrophotography) and don’t use setting circles. This makes M52 a tough character to find. Each year, I spend more time trying to find it than almost any other.