Abell 39 Planetary Nebula

Abell 39 Planetary Nebula

PLN 47+42.1

Constellation: Hercules
Ra: 16hr 27m 34s
Dec: +27d 54m 3s
Distance: 7,000 light years
Image Size: 34' x 34'
North: Lower right

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Description

Abell 39 is a planetary nebula in Hercules. It is 6 light years across with a bright rim ~0.3 light years wide and is 7,000 light years distant. It has low surface brightness and strongly emits OIII and weakly H-a. It is almost perfectly circular, but its central blue mag 15.4 proginator star is not perfectly centered within the sphere for reasons unknown. It is estimated that is has been expanding for about 22,000 years. There is some patchiness in the central region. The lowest “star” within the nebula is not actually a star, but rather a distant galaxy, which can be seen more clearly in the NOAO image from WIYN 3.5 meter telescope at Kitt Peak.

Exposure: 11 hrs Total :6 hrs OIII, 4 hrs H-a, 1 hr RGB
Telescope: RCOS 16" RC f/8.9 tube
Mount: Software Bisque Paramount ME
Oag: Astrodon MonsterMOAG
Acquisition: CCD AutoPilot4
Calibration: CCDStack2
Observatory Site: Sierra-Remote Observatories, Shaver Lake, CA
Camera: Apogee U16M
Filters: Astrodon 3nm OIII, H-a, Gen 2 RGB
Guider: SBIG ST-402
Camera Operation: MaximDL4.62
Processing: Photoshop CS5 Extended
Image Date: 06/12/2010

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