BYU telescope captures Halloween sights in the stars?

Astronomers Mike Joner and David Laney at BYU’s West Mountain Observatory have been busy using Utah’s largest optical telescope to capture images of the ghostly shell of gases from a massive star that blew up thousands of years ago.

The Veil Nebula is 2000 light years away and 100 light years across and gets its colors from the expanding shockwave that resulted from the violent death of a vanished star.

Two of the colorful pieces of this expanding shell of gasses have a Halloween feel to them – one has long been known as "The Witch’s Broom,” while the other has been named by BYU astronomers as the “Fiery Owl Nebula.”

Whether you see the witch or not or you think the owl looks more like a bat, take a minute to enjoy the marvels of space as shot by BYU astronomers and students with the 36-inch BYU West Mountain Observatory telescope.

These images were captured with filters to bring out the glow of the hydrogen, ionized oxygen and sulfur and later stitched together with data from imaging guru Rob Gendler.

More Information on This Article

Article Source/Further Information

News and Events

Image for Mystery of Haumea's Formation Solved
BYU Physics and Astronomy student Benjamin Proudfoot recently published research in the prestigious journal Nature Communications that solves the mystery of the icy dwarf planet Haumea's formation.
Image for Dr. John Colton: Table Tennis Champion
Dr. John Colton won the 2022 BYU intramural table tennis tournament
Image for Debunking acoustics myths around the Saturn V
When the Saturn V rocket propelled man to the moon in July 1969, the blast from the rocket’s engines was tremendous. Marked by a dazzling display of flames and deafening noise, the monumental event gave rise to widespread claims that the acoustic force of the rocket melted concrete and ignited grass fires miles away. New research from BYU debunks this common myth.
Image for Dr. Aleksandr Mosenkov, new Astronomy faculty
Dr. Aleksandr Mosenkov, new faculty, looks forward to receiving some of the first data from the James Webb Space Telescope to study galaxy formation
Image for Sounding out the Deep: Traci Neilsen’s Trip to the North Atlantic
A recent research adventure took Dr. Traci Neilsen and two students to the North Atlantic Ocean. Neilsen, an associate professor of physics at BYU, and her team apply artificial intelligence to noises in the ocean to classify the seabed.
Image for Reveling in Uncertainty
Despite the inherent time constraints of engaging undergraduate and graduate students in research, Scott Bergeson enjoys teaching this “seek and find” principle to his students, a principle that has become his philosophy for life.
Image for BYU Acoustics Records Artemis Launch
A group of BYU students and professors gathered acoustical recordings of at the world’s most powerful rocket launch.
Image for Kent Gee Recognized by AIAA
Kent Gee is selected as Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in their class of 2023
Image for West Mountain Observatory contributes to understand distant galaxy
BYU’s West Mountain Observatory was one of 37 ground-based telescopes throughout the world monitoring the active galaxy that is roughly 1 billion light years away.
Image for Dr. Tim Leishman retires from BYU
Dr. Leishman's time at BYU was filled with great teaching and profound mentoring