This is the last picture of a mini sequence of Infrared images that I have taken in the spectrum of wavelengths above 685nm.

CW Leonis, in the middle of the photo, is a carbon Star enveloped in a dust cloud that makes it barely visible in visual spectrum. It appears at its full brightness in infrared, as you can see by comparing the IR image with DSS optical survey one. Its planetary nebula owns the classification PK 221+45.

Also here there are two stars in the central lower part of the image whose proper motion is cleaerly visible, as revision B was taken a few years ago. It was even more evident in another image I published in Astrobin.

W Leonis (from Wikipedia)
Variable type Mira[3]
Distance 310 ly
Other designations: CW Leo, Peanut Nebula, IRC+10216, IRAS 09452+1330, PK 221+45 1, Zel 0945+135, RAFGL 1381, 2MASS J09475740+1316435, SCM 50[8]

CW Leonis is a carbon star that is embedded in a thick dust envelope. It was first discovered in 1969 by a group of astronomers led by Eric Becklin, based upon infrared observations made with the 62 inches (1.6 m) Caltech Infrared Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory. Its energy is emitted mostly at infrared wavelengths. At a wavelength of 5 μm, it was found to have the highest flux of any object outside the Solar System.

CW Leonis is believed to be in a late stage of its life, blowing off its own sooty atmosphere to form a white dwarf.

The carbon-rich gaseous envelope surrounding this star is at least 69,000 years old and the star is losing about (1–4) × 10−5 solar masses per year. The extended envelope contains at least 1.4 solar masses of material. Speckle observations from 1999 show a complex structure to this dust envelope, including partial arcs and unfinished shells. This clumpiness may be caused by a magnetic cycle in the star that is comparable to the solar cycle in the Sun and results in periodic increases in mass loss.

Various chemical elements and about 50 molecules have been detected in the outflows from CW Leonis, among others nitrogen, oxygen and water, silicon and iron. One theory was that the star was once surrounded by comets which melted once the star started expanding, but water is now thought to form naturally in the atmospheres of all carbon stars.

Several papers have suggested that CW Leonis has a close binary companion. ALMA and astrometric measurements may show orbital motion. The astrometric measurements, combined with a model including the companion, provide a parallax measurement showing that CW Leonis is the closest carbon star to the Earth.