Shapley 1

Shapley 1

Ring Planetary Nebula in Norma

Constellation: Norma
Ra: 15h 51m 41s
Dec: -51d 31m 29s
Distance: 4,900 light years
Image Size: 4.8' x 4.8'
North: Up, East Left

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Description

Shapley 1 (PLN 329+2.1) is a ring-type planetary nebula in the southern constellation of Norma approximately 4,900 light years distant and 8,700 years old. It was discovered by Howard Shapley in 1936. There are many images of the bright toroidal core that is about 1.1′ in diameter, which makes it about 1/3 light years across. It is bright at magnitude 12.6. The central star is a white dwarf with a magnitude of 14. It appears to be a true torus that we are looking through one end. The focus of my image is to show the extent and some detail of the OIII-enriched outer halo that increases the size on the nebula to about 2′; nearly double that of the core. The above image is cropped to show detail in this small object. The image below is the original image. In both cases, North is up and East is to the left.

Shapley1Web2

Exposure: 14.5 hrs Total" 6.5 hrs H-a, 5 hrs OIII, 3 hrs RGB
Telescope: PlaneWave CDK20 0.5m f/6.8
Mount: PlaneWave Ascension A200h
Oag: Astrodon MonsterMOAG
Acquisition: ACP-8 Expert
Calibration: CCDStack v2
Observatory Site: iTelescope.net, Siding Spring, NSW, Australia
Camera: SBIG STX16803
Filters: Astrodon 5 nm H-a, 3 nm OIII, E-Series RGB
Guider: SX Lodestar
Camera Operation: MaximDL 5.24
Processing: Photoshop CC 2017
Image Date: 04/19/2017 - 04/28/2017

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