La Cañada Observatory, is an initiative by Juan Lacruz, the observatory started astrometric operations in the summer of 2002, it is registered as station J87 in the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union.

The Observatory also participates in the studies on minor bodies promoted by the Group on Meteorites, Minor Bodies, and Planetary Sciences of the Institute of Space Sciences (CSIC-IEEC).



Saturday, December 15, 2007

The Horse Head Nebula in Orion


Sum of 3 images of 5 min each. (c) J. Lacruz, La Cañada Observatory.

M42, The Orion Nebula


The Nebula in Orion, a 10 seconds image LX200R 40cm + AOL+STL1001 E, The central region is over exposed to enhance the wings details. (c) J. Lacruz, La Cañada.

M1, The Crab nebula

The Crab Nebula M 1 is the remnant of a supernova in Taurus that was recorded by Chinese and Arab astronomers in 1054.

At the center of the nebula lies a Pulsar, a rotating neutron star, which emits pulses of radiation from gamma rays to radio waves with a spin rate of 30.2 times per second.


M1 2007 Dec 15, J87 La Cañada (c) J. Lacruz
This is a sum of three exposures 5 min each, taken through an LX200R 40cm telescope working at F10. Image stabilized with AOL, camera STL2001E, the resolution is 1.2 arc sec per pixel.
North is Up, East left.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

M74


Fine face on spiral galaxy

M57 The Ring Nebula in Lyra


A picture of the ring nebula, one exposition 3 minutes long.

The central star was discovered in 1800 by Friedrich von Hahn (1742-1805) this object is a white dwarf of 15 magnitude.


A detail has been contrast enhanced to show the faint background spiral galaxy.

Comet P/2007 V1 (LARSON) 2007 Nov 08


This object posted on the NEO Confirmation page displayed a tail 30 arc seconds long in position angle 240 degrees.
The observations from La Cañada, confirming the discovery, were published in MPEC 2007-V72 and IAUC 8893

Thursday, November 1, 2007

17P Holmes outburst


Quoting Gary Kronk account on comets-ml :

This outburst is very similar to the outburst this comet
experienced in 1892, which led to its discovery by Edwin Holmes
(England) on November 6. He was turning his 32-cm reflector toward M31
and thought that galaxy had entered the field of his finder. Upon
looking through the telescope he saw a comet about 5 arc minutes across
with a bright nucleus. Several people expressed scepticism that Holmes
had discovered such a bright comet, but it was confirmed with the naked
eye by other observers on November 7.

Read the IAUC8886 about this out burst.