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Amateur Astronomer Discovers New Nebula

Posted by michael on from the too-many-stars-already dept.

pease1 writes "The BBC is reporting on an amateur astronomer in the US who has detected, using a tiny 3-inch telescope and a CCD camera, the emergence of a young star from the cocoon of gas and dust in which it was born. The discovery image is here. Within hours, some of the largest telescopes on Earth had been redirected to image the new find. If you have a larger telescope and are heading out this weekend, here is a good finder chart, as this object has been sighted visually."

2 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. Re:You might remember me. by Bazzargh · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Oh fer crying out loud moderators, the parent is not offtopic. Whether it's funny or overrated is up to you.

    Anyway, I'm left wondering at the lack of tabloid sensibilities in the journos covering this:
    "New star emerges from dust cocoon" (BBC)
    "Amateur Astronomer Discovers New Nebula" (/.)

    Erm, great headlines guys. What the heck happened to "A Star Is Born"? "Twinkle twinkle little star"? "Every nebula has a silver lining?" or even "A long time ago and far, far away"?

    -"Lunchtime O'Booze"

  2. Not "just..." by brownpau · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >this is an honest-to-goodness new star that
    >just started lighting up the surrounding nebula.
    Well, strictly speaking, since M78 is 1,630 light years from Earth, it hasn't *just* started lighting up. ;)