An astrophotographer has found a bandage of O he ’s key the Phantom Stinger Nebula , which seem to have been overlooked by coevals of astronomers , amateur and professional likewise . The discovery is part of a undertaking by amateurs to explore the sky at a wavelength professional observatories are arguably neglecting – the 495.9 - 500.7 nanometer band where twice ionize oxygen releases two strongspectral lines . amazingly the breakthrough was made in a particularly well - studied constellation , showing how much else there is out there still to find .
In an era wheregiant telescopes are multiplying , and space telescopes can operate 24 hour a daylight , it might be think there ’s not much left for amateurs with much minuscule instruments to receive . That ’s in particular the case for those operating from location obscured by city lights , butSteeve Bodyhas shown there is still gilded to mine in the skies .
A music producer by day , award - winning lensman Body has taken some astonishing deep - space photographs taken with modest - sized scope . He was get hold of by astronomy scholarly person Tim Schaeffer to join a squad calling themselves New Horizons ( NHZ ) that are explore the sky for sign of oxygen - rich nebula .
Meet The “Phantom Stinger” nebula.Image Credit: Steeve Body (The New Horizons)
Body enjoin IFLScience that many of his works of art have been take while on trips to dark sky sites , but he lives in Bentleigh , not far from the geographical center field of Melbourne and near one of the urban center ’s major main road . streetlight and sky freshness make many contour of uranology impossible from such a position , but when at home Body uses narrow filters that cut out all the light other than the precise wavelength he is face for .
Using this process Body and the other NHZ members have trace up on nebulae discovered using radio telescopes to see if they have the distinctive blue glow that signifies the oxygen III transition .
Often , Body severalize IFLScience , they strike out , find that if there is any oxygen there to see it would require either larger telescopes or exposure up to a hundred time of day long to find it . This was the eccentric when Body render look for a recently get a line supernova end in Scorpio . “ I shot for 15 to 20 hours and there was no hint of it , ” he enjoin .
However , in the recess of the image he was taking organic structure spotted a patch of gamey , too far from the oddment to be associated with it . When Body try out again , this time placing the patch at the center of his field , he turned up this nebule captured above . It ask 20 hours of exposure time over two nights and panoptic processing to reveal it .
Neither Body nor his collaborators could encounter any criminal record of the nebula . A professional uranologist in inter-group communication with a penis of the NHZ team found a quotation in a Chinese journal to something at about the correct smirch . Unfortunately , admission to the journal for confirmation of whether the reference is the same physical object Body has found has been inconceivable to issue forth by so far .
accordingly , the NHZ squad does n’t have intercourse what it is they have found , how far away it is , and what caused it . “ There is a untested raging whizz that looks to be in the middle that could be the rootage , ” soundbox say . “ However , normally this type of oxygen nebulae aligns with aWolf - Rayet star , and this is n’t one , so we ’re not sure if they ’re connected . ”
With the possibility he is the first somebody to see the O patch Body agnize it was time to give it a name . “ It ’s flop in Scorpio ’s stinger , and it look a bit like a cut itself . It ’s hard to see except at this wavelength , so we address it ' The Phantom Stinger , ' ” he tell IFLScience .
Having made the discovery , however , organic structure and the other NHZers have learned there is nowhere to register it . When Charles Messier sustain finding fuzzy patch in the sky he would confuse for comet he created the first catalogue of nebula , galaxy , and lead clump . It continues to be used by amateurs 250 years later on to notice the sky ’s most salient small - telescope sights . Far bombastic catalog live today of wandflower , but no one is keeping racecourse of discoveries like these . One astronomer is running a heat labor catalogue newplanetary nebulaebut look at it beyond his capacity to extend to other eccentric of gas clouds . “ We may have to start a catalog ourselves , ” dead body say .
Body sellshigh - quality printsof some of his most breathtaking images . Although he acknowledged to IFLScience that the Phantom Stinger is “ Not as pretty ” as some of his other work , he’smade prints availablein case anyone recall the story , and the name , make up for that .
