A new planet in Vela

[strongmanmike]

This started off as a bit of a scout around for a nice planetary nebula to image, I clicked on the first PN symbol in Vela showing on my planetarium software and did a quick bin 2X2 and sheesh...wow!! talk about hitting the jackpot first go :eyepop:

A rather faint bugger at 15mag and just a little over twice the size of Jupiter on the sky this beautiful little planetary nebula designated Wray 17-31 was only discovered in the late 60's and is rarely imaged, in fact I could only find two other images of it - a colour one taken with the AAT and the other a B&W shot with the 1.2m UK Schmidt... neither of which show as much detail :D.

The nebula is estimated to be about 16,000 years old and an 18th mag and very blue H rich white dwarf star sits at its centre

It is an Ha OIII+RGB (mainly for the stars) combo and it required some good seeing to do it justice...aaaand low and behold I got two good 1/2 nights of rather steady atmosphere 8/9 Feb Yaaay! :cool:...about time :prey: and made for one of the highest res images I've managed to date with the AG12-SX combo - autoguide errors were smooth and even, averaging under 0.3" across the two nights

Planetary Globe in Vela (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/154436203/original) (100% crop)

A real close up of the planets atmosphere (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/154437779/original)

Comparison with AAT plate (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/154436204/original)

The rest of the album including the full frame is HERE (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/wray_1731_in_vela)

[multiweb]

Outstanding processing. The bubble shape is very obvious. So seeing wasn't too shabby after all. :)

[gregbradley]

Wow, what a find! A fabulous image and beautifully processed.

Greg.

[RickS]

Great stuff, Mike! A neat find and a fantastic image.

[Stevec35]

Nice one Mike!

Steve

[Screwdriverone]

Marbles anyone?

Lovely Mike, Mag 15 and yet it is well defined, and "bright" as.....better than the Mag 8 PN's I can see from Sludgetown.

Amazing work you do with that Light Dyson.....it sucks the photons and never seems to lose suction....:)

Cheers

Chris

[allan gould]

Great capture Mike for something hardly ever imaged. Excellent resolution as well.
AllAN

[h0ughy]

nice find Mike - another M entry perhaps?

[cometcatcher]

Looks like a little soap bubble. Came out really well for magnitude 15.

[Rod771]

Great fishing Mike! Nice colours.

You should start "mowing the lawn" with your gear, given your dark skies/seeing, you may discover something yourself :D

[astroron]

Where's the Planet:question: ;)
Nice work :)
Cheers:thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

Super image Mike, the colors are great and it seems you got some good resolution out of it too :) A great find, it's always nice to see something new and obscure!

[jsmoraes]

Beautiful and very impressive image. The comparison with Australina Observatory shows that you did very well the nebula. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Thanks boys, yes, happy with this one and yes the seeing was quite good until that easterly change hit Marc...which was good timing given I was about to start the RGB anyway :)...I just wanted to have a complain about the sudden deterioration in the seeing conditions - it was remarkable :eyepop:



Cheers Chris :D hoover indeed, this scope is a formidable beast and when the seeing cooperates - I really love it!! :thumbsup:



Yes very strange that it is simply not imaged :shrug:..I mean, I didn't know it was there :shrug: :question:



Naaah...I think it is probably a bit too colourful the universe is apparently Pastel in colour after all :rolleyes: and besides it is clearly better that M's version with the AAT so I recon it would be brushed aside :lol:...who knows ;)



Yes happy with the result and such an intriguing object :)



Cheers Rod and yes...the idea did cross my mind, if I could get this sort of seeing even more regularly it would be nice :)



There, I made it a little clearer for you Ron :)



Thanks Rolf, yes I think the smallest features in the globe there are only a couple of arc sec in diameter...you have a Hoover too :)



Thanks Jorges, yes in this case it is not just a case of the AAT image is just very small, the 4m of aperture and broadband capture of the AAT has picked up fainter stars but there is indeed better resolution in the neb in my image :thumbsup:

MIke

[sjastro]

Great image Mike.

I took an image of this object about seven years ago under atrocious conditions.

As a result I can appreciate how good your image is.

Clear skies

Steven

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Steve, it was like winning the imaging lottery stumbling on this right when the seeing was going through a good patch here :thumbsup:

Mike

[atalas]

Splendid work Mike!

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Louie :hi:

[Bassnut]

Excellent narrow field work there Mike. Pretty tight even that close up.

[John Hothersall]

Lovely obscure faint PN, love the blue orange centre stars. 15th mag is a swine to pull out with that level of clean detail.

John.

[strongmanmike]

Glad you like it Fred, guess ya can't get much more close up than the 7' X 7' field (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/154437779/original)



Cheers John, this SX camera and this fast OO bucket make collecting data and more importantly processing that data, easy and a real pleasure, not having to worry about calibration frames and temperature etc (not to mention buckets of water, pumps and tubes) seems kinda wrong I know... but that's how it is :)

Mike

[astroron]

It really is a nice Planetary Nebula Mike :D
And you do it proud :)
Cheers:thumbsup:

[alpal]

Nice image Mike & you didn't need to go binning 2x2 to pick it up.


cheers
Allan

[DavidNg]

Like your images as always BigMike,

Cheers

[Camelopardalis]

Great work and a great find :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Thanks guys :thumbsup:

Allan I did consider going 2 X 2 buuuut I think I have a fetish ...bit like Paul's 30hrs one :lol: (that was a joke Paul ;)) and stayed at 1X1 given the seeing was good

Mike

[Shiraz]

wooah - how nice is that. Top image sir - staggering resolution. regards Ray

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Ray :)...lot of no's for this image ie no darks, no flats, no gradient removal, no noise reduction, no Deconvolution or wavelets etc, no AO, no PEC, no ProTrack... essentially just the AG12, H694 and the NJP plus some good seeing...oh and some judicious but basic processing :D :thumbsup:

Mike

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Inspiring work Mike!:thumbsup:

Remarkable amount of detail from a small object, and what a beautiful planetary.
So many varied forms.

Cheers,

Justin.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Justin...I think I have the PN bug now :question:....as you say, there are many and varied forms of them out there :)

Mike

[Ross G]

What an amazing photo Mike!

Not only a great capture of an obscure object but you have made it look great as well.

Ross.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Ross glad you like it, I sure hit the PN jackpot after simply clicking on an icon in Star Atlas Pro thinking.. wonder what this looks like...? He he

Mike