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Simeis 147 (Sh2-240)

These are the intricate filaments of faint supernova remnant Simeis 147. Seen towards the constellation Taurus it covers nearly 3 degrees (6 full moons) on the sky corresponding to a width of 160 light-years at the stellar debris cloud's estimated distance of 3,000 light-years. It is one of the faintest objects in the sky, discovered using a 25" Schmidt camera in 1952 by G.A Shajn and V.E. Hase at the Crimean Astrophyical Observatory at Simeis (in the former U.S.S.R). It was also imaged independently at Palomar by the 48" "Samuel Oschin" Schmidt camera on red photographic plates at roughly the same time period.
This supernova remnant has an apparent age of about 100,000 years - meaning light from the massive stellar explosion first reached Earth 100,000 years ago - but this expanding remnant is not the only aftermath. The cosmic catastrophe also left behind a spinning neutron star or pulsar, all that remains of the original star's core. (Text adapted from Astronomy Picture of the Day)

Chosen as NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day for November 29, 2005.

This image is a composite from black and white images taken with the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch (1.2-meter) Samuel Oschin Telescope as a part of the second National Geographic Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II). The images were recorded on two type of glass photographic plates - one sensitive to red light and the other to blue and later they were digitized. Credit: Caltech, Palomar Observatory, Digitized Sky Survey.

In order to produce the color image seen here, I worked with data coming from 8 different photographic plates taken between 1988 and 1997. Original file is 17.067 x 13.508 pixels with a resolution of about 1 arcsec per pixel. The image shows an area of sky large 4,7° x 3,8° (for comparison, the full-Moon is about 0,5° in diameter). Color composite, copyright: Davide De Martin.

Available for Museum, Planetariums, Publishers and Authors in very high-resolution (230 megapixels). Please, e-mail me with your request.

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All images presented in this website are copyrighted © Davide De Martin (2005-2010) otherwise noted. Reproduction or distribution of these images is not permitted without written consent. See also commercial use of the images for further details or email me. Comments are welcome.
The astronomical images presented in this site were created with the help of the ESA/ESO/NASA FITS Liberator.