NGC 6537: A Nebula with Bipolar DisorderOTA: CDK24” f/6.5 (Telescope Live)
Camera: FLI ProLine PL9000
Observatory: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
Exposures:
H: 17 x 600 sec
O: 18 x 600
S: 16 x 600
Total Exposure time used:8.5 hours
Image Width: 28 arcminutes; the longest dimension of the nebula is about 2 arc minutes.
Processing: PixInsight, Topaz Studio2, custom scripts for image weighting and star replacement
This, like other bipolar nebula, falls under the category of "planetary nebulae." It does not look like the circular/spherical traditional planetary nebulae may be the imprint of a companion star, or maybe the lobes were fashioned by strong magnetic fields. (Wikipedia). The bright area at the center is not the source star but a brightly illuminated gas nebula enveloping the white dwarf that is to blame for this four-legged Arachnida nicknamed the "Red Spider" nebula. The legs spread outward at a hypersonic velocity of between 2000 and 4500 km/sec and are heated to somewhere between 150,000 to 250,000 K. Truly "white hot!"
This is my second "Red Spider." I found one encroaching on Messier 33 (
https://astrob.in/h89tv0/0/) as well. And, of course, there's that Trantula thing...is someone trying to tell us something?
Alex Woronow
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