Abell 45 in Scutum

Abell 45 in Scutum

Wagonwheel Planetary Nebula

Constellation: Scutum
Ra: 18h 30m 15s
Dec: -11d 36m 56s
Image Size: 30' x 30'
North: Upper Left

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Description

There is very little written about Abell 45 (PK 020-00 1, PN G020.2-00.6) located in the southern constellation of Scutum. It is a special planetary nebula in that its appearance mostly comes from ionized nitrogen (NII) with much less hydrogen (hydrogen-alpha) and no oxygen (OIII). It thus becomes problematic to display this object, since both NII and H-a emissions are red. H-a data were mapped to red, in order to keep the background nebulosity red, and NII was mapped to blue to better distinguish the nebula. As such, the final result is referred to as a "false color" image, somewhat like the Hubble Space Telescope image of the "Pillars of Creation". I am using color to differentiate structure and chemistry. RGB stars were added based upon a G2V color calibration. Abell 45 looks like a wheel with spokes. Hence, I took the liberty of labeling it the "Wagonwheel Planetary Nebula". It is 5-6′ in diameter. The field is 30′ x 30′ and north is to the upper left.

Exposure: 11.5 hrs Total; 6 hrs NII, 4 hrs H-a, 1.5 hrs RGB
Telescope: PlaneWave CDK20
Mount: PlaneWave Ascension A200h
Oag: Astrodon MonsterMOAG
Acquisition: CCDAutoPilot5
Calibration: CCDStack2
Observatory Site: Siding Spring, iTelescope.net, NSW, Australia
Camera: Apogee U16M D09
Filters: Astrodon Gen2 RGB, 3nm H-a, NII
Guider: SBIG ST-i
Camera Operation: MaximDL5.24
Processing: Photoshop CC, PixInsight1.8
Image Date: 08/14/2013 - 09/01/2013

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