Dear Lookout Observers,

On the eve of American Independence Day, traditionally celebrated by a display of fireworks, I am sending you a picture of celestial fireworks of tremendous magnitude. It is an object known as M1 or the Crab Nebula. For regular recipients of this bulletin, you may remember that I sent out a picture of this object just about a year and a half ago, taken from my back yard in Albany, CA. Because of serious Bay Area light pollution, I used a filter designed to reduce the effects of that pollution. But I have taken a more recent picture using a narrow-band filter that further enhances the beautiful H-alpha light of the many filaments of glowing gas of ionized hydrogen, and I combined it with the earlier image to give a backyard picture that was accumulated over 2 hours and 43 minutes of time and shows more nebulosity than the earlier picture did. This is the first image below.

If you didn’t see the earlier writeup, I’ll just state again that M1 is a supernova remnant, meaning it is the gaseous shell of a star that blew its outer part away, leaving only a super dense neutron star core at the center. The explosion that started the gases expanding occurred almost 1000 years ago, and it was of course many trillions of times greater than the explosion caused by a very loud M80 firecracker. Since all fireworks are illegal in California, and even where they are legal, they can be really annoying to your neighbors, why not just enjoy looking at M1 this 4^th of July instead of listening to an M80? It is a peaceful way to celebrate American Independence Day.

But an image of M1 has another use besides being a very silent explosion. These days the coronavirus has caused a worldwide pandemic already causing more than half a million deaths worldwide, and it has disrupted the world economy and caused tremendous financial hardship to untold millions. Even to those who have escaped the worst of its medical consequences, it is causing a great deal of mental stress, fear and anxiety. Psychologists sometimes use a technique called visualization to help reduce stress, and I hope you might find this helpful in calming the stress from the coronavirus. One type of visualization technique uses your imagination to turn a negative or feared object or situation into a positive or pleasant object or situation. It just so happens that the feared coronavirus can be easily turned into the beautiful M1 (or Crab Nebula).

The next 6 pictures will help you do this. First look at the microscopic view of the feared coronavirus. In the next picture we squash it down, making it oblong and releasing some of our anger at it. Then you look at each successive picture, and you see it magically change into the beautiful Crab Nebula. After this visual aid, you can now close your eyes any time you wish and picture the virus turning into a quiet, harmless cloud of expanding gas 11 light years across and 6500 light years away. As you do this, allow peace to descend into your body. Do this several times a day, and it will improve your sense of well-being. Refer back to these transforming pictures as needed to reinforce your ability to create the imagery in your mind.

If this doesn’t work for you, it is simply proof that Anitra was right. She says this whole idea is the product of a coronavirus-locked-down seriously disturbed brain gone to mush. Well, it is the thought that counts: I hope each of you gets through this pandemic safely, peacefully, with your sanity intact.

Keep looking up,

Carter, (sometime) Resident Astronomer,

Lookout Observatory.