A Salute to Hemphill, Texas

by JonathanNo Comments
Texas Highways magazine was the first periodical to feature "Bringing Columbia Home." There's a very poignant article about Hemphill and Sabine County, Texas in the January 2023 issue, which also mentions the book. https://texashighways.com/culture/history/hemphill-remembers-the-columbia-disaster-20-years-later/ Mike Leinbach and I will forever be grateful that we were able to help honor the heroic deeds of the people who assisted in the recovery of Columbia and her crew.  If you're ever in East Texas, please consider making a pilgrimage to Hemphill to see the incredible Remembering Columbia Museum and meet some of the people who answered the call in the darkest hours following the accident in 2003....
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The “Seagull Nebula”

by JonathanNo Comments
IC 2177, popularly known as the "Seagull Nebula," is a region of dust clouds, emission nebulas, reflection nebulas, and star clusters that lies along the border between the constellations Canis Major and Monoceros. It appears to have formed as the result of at least three separate supernova explosions over the past six million years. The shock waves from the explosions are pushing interstellar gas and dust together, triggering star formation. An interesting feature is bow shock wave around the star at far right. Data from the GAIA space mission shows that this is a runaway star, traveling at high speed. It was likely ejected from an open cluster by a nearby supernova explosion one million years ago. The shock wave results from it slamming into the nebulous region at high speed. Imaged on the evening of 13 February 2023 from Summerfield, NC (Bortle 4/5), using Explore Scientific 127mm FCD-100 APO refractor with field flattener/reducer, EQ6-R Pro mount, cooled ZWO ASI1600MM camera and...
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