Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cancer (Cnc)  ·  Contains:  PK219+31.1  ·  Sh2-290
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Deep Dive into Abell 31, Bruce Donzanti
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Deep Dive into Abell 31

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Deep Dive into Abell 31, Bruce Donzanti
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Deep Dive into Abell 31

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

This latest revision was refined using the new Color Mask script modification (version 1_mod5), which allows much more flexibility in color hue selection and strength, and in mask variations.   I wanted to test this new version and it is an amazing improvement .  
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Abell 31 (Sh2-290; PK 219+31.1), another ancient planetary nebula, located in the constellation Cancer about 2,000 light-years away.   Despite being one of the largest PNs (nearly 10 light-years wide), it is very faint (12th magnitude), thus requiring long hours to capture.  The nebula is much brighter in OIII than Ha (see acquisition numbers) and appears to be diffuse throughout the nebula, but glows mostly in the central region. The OIII portion also surrounds the progenitor star, a tiny white dwarf, about 4 times the size of the Earth and 0.04 times the size of the Sun.  The direction of its fast motion is toward the southern part of the cloud which is sharply defined by a wide "bow shock" (see version C) where the gases and dust are compressed by interacting with the surrounding interstellar medium.  

This was a tough one to image and probably not ideal to do at f/10, unless one has excellent seeing.  However, I wanted to get a nice close look at it, which I did.  I was pleased with the final result despite the many hours required to capture it under Bortle 7 skies with less than ideal seeing conditions.  All comments/constructive feedback is welcomed.

Comments

Revisions

  • Deep Dive into Abell 31, Bruce Donzanti
    Original
  • Deep Dive into Abell 31, Bruce Donzanti
    C
  • Deep Dive into Abell 31, Bruce Donzanti
    D
  • Deep Dive into Abell 31, Bruce Donzanti
    E
  • Deep Dive into Abell 31, Bruce Donzanti
    F
  • Final
    Deep Dive into Abell 31, Bruce Donzanti
    G

C

Description: Gray scale image showing the "bow shock" region in the southern part where the gases and dust are compressed by interacting with the surrounding interstellar medium.

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D

Description: Slight adjustment to bring more clarity to the O3 nucleus.

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F

Description: Refined using the newly developed color mask script modification.

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G

Description: Slight color adjustment

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Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

Deep Dive into Abell 31, Bruce Donzanti