by MarkBour » Fri Mar 08, 2019 5:09 pm
Re: McNeil's Nebula. Isn't it wonderful to hear of an observer with a 3-inch refractor, looking from his back yard and discovering something like this? Of course he had to be very knowledgeable and astute to have noted it. There is clearly a very massive, extensive, and dark obscuring "cloud" in the immediate area. I agree with the thought that although the variability might be caused by changing output of an infant star, It seems equally possible that the variability of the nebula is due to variable blockage of our view. This hypothesis ought to be verifiable by watching some of those nearby stars. In the two images neufer posted, I can see some changes in and around them, though they are subtle and they may be processing differences. Over time, if some of them wink out or appear, or even just change significantly in brightness, that would give strong evidence of obscuring as the cause. And if none of them ever do, while the nebula continues to vary, that would lend credence to the opposite hypothesis.
Re: McNeil's Nebula. Isn't it wonderful to hear of an observer with a 3-inch refractor, looking from his back yard and discovering something like this? Of course he had to be very knowledgeable and astute to have noted it. There is clearly a very massive, extensive, and dark obscuring "cloud" in the immediate area. I agree with the thought that although the variability might be caused by changing output of an infant star, It seems equally possible that the variability of the nebula is due to variable blockage of our view. This hypothesis ought to be verifiable by watching some of those nearby stars. In the two images neufer posted, I can see some changes in and around them, though they are subtle and they may be processing differences. Over time, if some of them wink out or appear, or even just change significantly in brightness, that would give strong evidence of obscuring as the cause. And if none of them ever do, while the nebula continues to vary, that would lend credence to the opposite hypothesis.