June 22, 2015 8:52 pm

Mission 2 Completed. Next Up: Mission 3.

Photo of M42 NGC 1976, taken by Jimmy Walker in April 2014.

M42, NGC 1976 Orion Nebula. Imaged by Jimmy Walker, using a Celestron EdgeHD 14” telescope, a CGE Pro Mount, and a Nightscape camera at the New Mexico Skies Observatory in April, 2014.

Thank you all once again for volunteering for Celestron Mission StarTalk.

We’ve successfully completed our second mission, and a winner has been selected from all our volunteers who submitted the correct answers.

@michael72e from Instagram correctly named our unidentified celestial object as M42, the Orion Nebula. Another acceptable answer would have been NGC 1976.

Michael won a SkyMaster 15×70 Astronomy Binocular. He, along with everyone else who submitted a correct answer, has also been entered into the Grand Prize Drawing to win a NexStar Evolution 6 Computerized Telescope. No purchase is necessary to enter. One entry per mission per social media channel. All entries must include the hashtag, #CelestronMissionStarTalk.

By the way, the image above was taken by pro-golfer and amateur astronomer Jimmy Walker, using a Celestron EdgeHD 14” telescope, a CGE Pro Mount, and a Nightscape camera, with an exposure of f/7.7, at the New Mexico Skies Observatory in April, 2014.

Mission 3 Begins… Now

Are you read for Mission 3?

Every week for the next 5 weeks, we’ll post the winner of the previous week’s mission here on our website.

If you’d like to volunteer for Mission 3, visit @Celestron on Twitter, @CelestronUniverse on Instagram, or Celestron Telescopes on Facebook.

You’ll find your next unidentified celestial object waiting for you now. You’ll also find a link to contest rules and submission guidelines.

Follow StarTalk and Celestron on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for new mission announcements and previous mission winners every Monday.

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