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"Abell 31 is a very large, and very low surface brightness planetary nebula in Cancer, about 3 degrees south of the open cluster M 67. The magnitude is quoted as 12.2, but the light is spread out over an area 16.2 arc minutes in diameter."
They are'nt kidding about very low surface brightness! I can barely pick this out from the background noise. Even Ha has to be shot on moonless nights, it is that dim.
After a couple of tries under moonlight ("Hey, it's Ha, it'll be fine..." ), I tossed a lot of data and started over on some recent moonless nights. Unfortunately, this target is already past the meridian at sunset, so I only get a few hours per night on it. I figure another three or four nights will give me enough data for a decent image. But that may have to wait until next season. It is worth pursuing, because it is BIG, much bigger than run-of-the-mill planetary nebulae.
So, this is Abell 31.
Orion 200mm f/4 Newtonian
Atik 383L+
19x 600s Ha, 1x1
14x 900s O3, 1x1
Total exposure time so far: 6h40m.
DSO AP:Orion 200mm f/4 Newtonian Astrograph; ATIK 383L+; EFW2 filter wheel; Astrodon Ha,Oiii,LRGB filters; KWIQ/QHY5 guide scope; Planetary AP:Celestron C-11; ZWO ASI120MC; Portable: Celestron C-8 on HEQ5 pro; C-90 on wedge; 20x80 binos; Etc: Canon 350D; Various EPs, etc. Obs: 8' Exploradome; iOptron CEM60 (pier); Helena Observatory (H2O)Astrobin
Gordon
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED80CF, Skywatcher 200 Quattro Imaging Newt, SeeStar S50 for EAA.
Mounts: Orion Atlas EQ-g mount & Skywatcher EQ5 Pro.
ZWO mini guider.
Image cameras: ZWO ASI1600 MM Cool, ZWO ASI533mc-Pro, ZWO ASI174mm-C (for use with my Quark chromosphere), ZWO ASI120MC
Filters: LRGB, Ha 7nm, O-III 7nm, S-II 7nm
Eyepieces: a few.
Primary software: Cartes du Ciel, N.I.N.A, StarTools V1.4.
Amazing that you can pull off an image like this from such a dim target. Great capture and congratulations!
Jim
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED102 APO, Sharpstar 61 EDPH II APO, Samyang 135 F2 (still on the Nikon).
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod
Stuff: ASI EAF Focus Motor (x2), ZWO OAG, ZWO 30 mm Guide Scope, ASI 220mm min, ASI 120mm mini, Stellarview 0.8 FR/FF, Sharpstar 0.8 FR/FF, Mele Overloock 3C.
Camera/Filters/Software: ASI 533 mc pro, ASI 120mm mini, ASI 220mm mini , IDAS LPS D-1, Optolong L-Enhance, ZWO UV/IR Cut, N.I.N.A., Green Swamp Server, PHD2, Adobe Photoshop CC, Pixinsight.
Dog and best bud: Jack
Sky: Bortle 6-7
My Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/Juno16/
Great image Kathy and the colors are wonderful. Congrats on winning the APOD for today.
-Michael Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50 Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl Camera: ZWO ASI 120 Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs Latitude: 48.7229° N
Hi Kathy. A superb Abell 31 image. Although it is somewhat faint, you did a great job on capturing the bi color nebulosity and details. Thanks for taking the time to put this work up on here for us to enjoy Kathy, and congratulations on winning the TSSAPOD Award today.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
Orion Astroview 120ST f/5 Refractor on EQ3 mount
Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
Orion 180mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on CG5-GT Goto mount.
Orion XT12i 12" f/4.9 Dobsonian Intelliscope.
Kamakura 7x35 Binoculars and Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars. ZWO ASI 120MC camera.
>)))))*>
and thank you for this amazing bicolor astrophoto with a very nice color rendition.
It brings back my memories how difficult has been this nebula visually through the 15x85 binoculars, due to its uneven distribution of light.
The star hopping is to the parallelogram of the faint stars, well visible on the astrophoto.
Clear skies,
JG
6" F/5 Sky-Watcher achro, 2" BBHS Star Diagonal, 2" zenith prism, 1.25" Takahashi prism Leica 82mm APO Televid Eyepieces: Docter UWA; Leica B WW and WW Asph. Zoom; Leica HC Plan S and L, monocentric; Pentax SMC XW, O-, XO; Tak MC O, Carl Zeiss B WW, and Pl, E-Pl, S-Pl, W-Pl;
Swarovski SW; Baader Symmetric Diascope Edition; Nikon NAV SW, ; TMB supermonocentric; Rodenstock; Vixen HR; TV Delos Filters: Astrodon, Astronomik, Baader, Balzers, Zeiss West and East, Lumicon Binoculars (7x42 up to 15x85): Docter Nobilem, Leica Ultravid, Nikon Astroluxe, Swarovski EL Swarovision; BA8 (Kunming Optical)
metastable wrote: ↑Fri Apr 16, 2021 4:29 pm
How’d the stars end up white? Did you superimpose the narrowband over rgb?
I extracted the stars from both the Ha and Oiii images using Starnet++. I did my colour processing on the starless nebula images, then I re-inserted the stars from the Ha image, which were cleaner than those from the Oiii image. When I get this to a final image, probably next season, I will shoot some RGB to get realistic star colours.
DSO AP:Orion 200mm f/4 Newtonian Astrograph; ATIK 383L+; EFW2 filter wheel; Astrodon Ha,Oiii,LRGB filters; KWIQ/QHY5 guide scope; Planetary AP:Celestron C-11; ZWO ASI120MC; Portable: Celestron C-8 on HEQ5 pro; C-90 on wedge; 20x80 binos; Etc: Canon 350D; Various EPs, etc. Obs: 8' Exploradome; iOptron CEM60 (pier); Helena Observatory (H2O)Astrobin
and thank you for this amazing bicolor astrophoto with a very nice color rendition.
It brings back my memories how difficult has been this nebula visually through the 15x85 binoculars, due to its uneven distribution of light.
The star hopping is to the parallelogram of the faint stars, well visible on the astrophoto.
Clear skies,
JG
Wow! You saw it in binos??! That is amazing! Those must be some seriously dark skies you were viewing under!
I was astounded at how dim this object was. It is barely above the noise threshhold in my subs.
DSO AP:Orion 200mm f/4 Newtonian Astrograph; ATIK 383L+; EFW2 filter wheel; Astrodon Ha,Oiii,LRGB filters; KWIQ/QHY5 guide scope; Planetary AP:Celestron C-11; ZWO ASI120MC; Portable: Celestron C-8 on HEQ5 pro; C-90 on wedge; 20x80 binos; Etc: Canon 350D; Various EPs, etc. Obs: 8' Exploradome; iOptron CEM60 (pier); Helena Observatory (H2O)Astrobin
and thank you for this amazing bicolor astrophoto with a very nice color rendition.
It brings back my memories how difficult has been this nebula visually through the 15x85 binoculars, due to its uneven distribution of light.
The star hopping is to the parallelogram of the faint stars, well visible on the astrophoto.
Clear skies,
JG
Wow! You saw it in binos??! That is amazing! Those must be some seriously dark skies you were viewing under!
I was astounded at how dim this object was. It is barely above the noise threshhold in my subs.
Hello Kathy,
and first of all, congratulations on the APOD!
From my observing notes: Binoculars 15x85, filters blue(RGB)CCD: very faint disc, slightly irregular, averted to direct vision, 27th February, 2019,
and on the 30th March 2019 confirmed through my 6" F/5 achro.
As Scott on CN is collectingg the observing reports of the Abell planetaries through the smallest apertures, these 85mm binoculars may be the smallest ones.
Technically,
I have got very good and often unexpected views with the blue(RGB)CCD filters, but the sensitivity of my dark adapted vision has moved with age towards the shorter wavelengths.
Thank you for your kind words,
JG
6" F/5 Sky-Watcher achro, 2" BBHS Star Diagonal, 2" zenith prism, 1.25" Takahashi prism Leica 82mm APO Televid Eyepieces: Docter UWA; Leica B WW and WW Asph. Zoom; Leica HC Plan S and L, monocentric; Pentax SMC XW, O-, XO; Tak MC O, Carl Zeiss B WW, and Pl, E-Pl, S-Pl, W-Pl;
Swarovski SW; Baader Symmetric Diascope Edition; Nikon NAV SW, ; TMB supermonocentric; Rodenstock; Vixen HR; TV Delos Filters: Astrodon, Astronomik, Baader, Balzers, Zeiss West and East, Lumicon Binoculars (7x42 up to 15x85): Docter Nobilem, Leica Ultravid, Nikon Astroluxe, Swarovski EL Swarovision; BA8 (Kunming Optical)
I re-observed the so-called Medusa Nebula over a year ago at our dark site with the 17.5 inch. There seems to be variations in its listed visual magnitude and angular size. Using the data I have for it, the visual magnitude is 11.3 and its size is 10.0'. That works out to a mean surface brightness of around 16.04. So yeah, quite dim. Well done.
Alan
Scopes: Astro Sky 17.5 f/4.5 Dob || Apertura AD12 f/5 Dob || Zhumell Z10 f/4.9 Dob ||
ES AR127 f/6.5 || ES ED80 f/6 || Apertura 6" f/5 Newtonian
Mounts: ES Twilight-II and Twilight-I
EPs: AT 82° 28mm UWA || TV Ethos 100° 21mm and 13mm || Vixen LVW 65° 22mm ||
ES 82° 18mm || Pentax XW 70° 10mm, 7mm and 5mm || barlows
Filters (2 inch): DGM NPB || Orion Ultra Block, O-III and Sky Glow || Baader HaB
Primary Field Atlases: Uranometria All-Sky Edition and Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas
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