Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Sextans (Sex)  ·  Contains:  IC 632  ·  IC 633  ·  NGC 3325
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Hewett 1, Roman Pearah
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Hewett 1

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Hewett 1, Roman Pearah
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Hewett 1

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Description

When it was discovered on November 4, 2003, Hewett 1 was claimed as
i) the largest planetary nebula on the sky, ii) certainly closer than any planetary nebula other than Sh 2–216, iii) the first to be unambiguously associated with a DO white dwarf [PG 1034+001].
A few days later, the first, confirmed amateur image was taken by Richard Crisp. Other than an image here on Astrobin by Brandon Pimenta, who wasn't sure of the capture, I know of no others.

There are so many great things to discover in this part of the sky, straddling the celestial equator. The nebula itself, of course, is strange and stunning. Besides being quite unusual as an extremely large yet predominantly OIII structure -- and one that's visible during the height of galaxy season in the Northern Hemisphere -- the shape of it is haunting. The strong horn at the top presents a stark frontier radiating out into space.

The rest of the nebula mirrors this horn in what seems like a double helix, wrapping around the main feature: an almost horse-like, very bright (relatively speaking; the whole project was an exercise in the painfully faint) and dense concentration of gas. Here you can see H-alpha trailing off like fire as it wraps around the top of the nebula. Of course, the real H-alpha show is happening at the bottom of the nebula (in this framing) where a bright region hangs like a ruby pendant. In fact, it's more like a knuckle connecting a jet of H-alpha extending to the right and up with a very faint "smoke ring" to the left, further lending to the eerie mood. I keep thinking of a fossil or the sand worm from Dune.

Just above the aforementioned jet of H-alpha, tucked in behind Hewett 1, are a cluster of galaxies and another strong OIII object. These aren't the only galaxies making an appearance. Another sits to the left of these in the middle of the OIII region, another just to the left of the main OIII region, and another in the center of the right third of the frame. There are more that I could mention but I'll leave them as an exercise for the viewer.

The two brightest stars (bottom right; one is a bi-color double, one of several in the image) are joined by an impressive spiral galaxy just to their right and what is, I'm sure, a coincidental but no less striking arc of small stars near the bottom of the image. And not to be outdone, the arc of three bright stars in the upper left, all differently colored, were my constant reference when verifying the framing of this very faint but very rewarding target.

Have a look around the high res image for more interesting details!

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    Hewett 1, Roman Pearah
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Description: Improved contrast in the main feature

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Hewett 1, Roman Pearah