This image is the first deep color image of StDr 55. StDr 55 is a planetary nebula candidate discovered by Xavier Strottner and Marcel Drechsler in June 2020. Its approximately 5 arc min in size and is located in the constellation Cassiopeia at RA 01 32 38.77 and DEC +63 59 30.3. In the main wide field image, StDr 55 isn't easy to pick out but it is near center and looks like a slightly brighter area of emission with finger like extensions. The entire area here is dominated by red HII emission with a small amount of OIII emission near the bright nebula in the upper left corner. Several other interesting objects are within the field of view and are highlighted below.  Lastly, in the the full image, on the extreme right, near the center edge, is the small 33" planetary nebula IPHASX J012507.9+635652



Above is a full resolution crop of StDr 55. It's thought by the discover's that StDr 55 is an ancient planetary nebula. So old that its lost all of its OIII emission and is now mainly composed of HII/NII emission. The discover's named this object "Methuselah". Its irregularly shaped with finger like protrusions. It's not known how far away StDr 55 is but some areas of the surrounding region are thought to be on one of the outer arms of the Milky Way at a distance of 26,000 light years.



The image above is a crop of the brighter nebula in the upper left portion of the wide field image. This area has been studied as recently as 2004. The bright star with a bubble feature around it is IRAS 01342+6358. It's a microwave source and is known as a Maser object. The designation of this Maser object is G127.935+1.814. Maser stands for "Microwave Amplification by stimulated Emission of Radiation". Oxygen rich evolved stars sometimes host H2O masers in their circumstellar envelopes. In this case, H20 molecules undergo stimulated emission. The circumstellar disk around this star is possibly a reflection of this radiation. The circumstelljer disk only showed in the OIII wavelength.



The image above is a full resolution view of the Maser object IRAS 01342+6358 and the circumstellar disk around the star. There are very luminous HII nodules around this star which are unusually bright. This region was studied in 2004 and HII emission is thought to be photo ionized by OB type star. This area is thought to be extremely far away at the edge of the galaxy. The distance is estimated to be 8.2 Kpc or 26,744 light years. It's thought this area is over 200 light years wide.