A rediculously faint planetary nebula

[tornado33]

This one is so difficult not only because its faint, but big, making its surface brightness impossibly faint indeed.
Its called We De 1 and sits almost due north of Betelgeuse.

This was taken with the 300mm f2.8 flourite lens from Bert. but I only got 4x5 mins in before cloud ended proceedings for the night. Its a crop from a bigger image, I didnt have it quite centred, its far too faint to be seen on the subexposures, even after processing its barely visible, just to right of centre of image. I did this one just after the Seagull nebula.
Open cluster NGC 2141 is at top, middle also. Id like to try and get an hour at least on We De 1 but Orion is slipping westward and clear weather windows are so rare nowdays. Its goot to catch photons after so much bad weather.
Scott

EDIT: Well this is amazing, on going over Star Atlas pro Ive found Ive caught another Planetary Nebula in the We De 1 pic. Its buried in the glow of the bright star near top. Its called A 12 (must be an Abell object) Here is a full res crop with much lower level stretching. Though the star is flared from the filter combination the PN is clearly visible as a pinkish glow just next to the star in the 4 oclock position. This object is begging for the 10 inch scope to image it.

[theodog]

Nice find Scott.
I'll look for this planetary tonight if clear.:)

[AJames]

Scott,
Certainly a startling image.
While I have not actually seen this Orion object myself, I do know the region and once looked for the PNe, after similarly observing NGC 2141 and a faint colour contrasting pair NW of it.
My notes suggest WeDe1 lies 55 arcmin ENE (PA 288 deg) from NGC 2148 / Cr 79 (06 02.9 +10 deg 27'), while A12 / PK 198-06.1 lies at a similar distance of 47 arcmin but is SSW (PA 190 deg).
The fore-mentioned double is 33 armin NW (PA 325 deg), and contains the 9th (8.95V) magnitude blue star (HD 40791) and 10th (10.1V in SIMBAD) magnitude. deep-red M6 spectral class star, DP Ori / HIP 28558. DP Ori varies between 10.5 and 12.5 in a semi-regular period of about 90 days, but is classed as an irregular SRB (Semi Regular Variable) so this is only a guide. I've seen this unlisted pair on one occasion, when looking for colour contrasting pairs. It was not very eye-catching when I looked at it in the 1990's.
The stars are separated by some 102 arcsec through PA 93 deg, but this is not recognised in the Washington Double Star Catalogue as such.

As for the planetary...

We De 1 is a planetary in Orion whose co-ordinates is 05h 59m 25s, whose PN G number is PN G197.4-06.4 / PK 197-06.1. It is considered a highly evolved old planetary, and was discovered by Weinberger, Dengel (hence We De) and Hartl and Sabbadin in 1983.
The size in the Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Planetary Nebula says is 929 arcsec or 15 arcmin, but you seemingly have caught only the remaining heart of the planetary surrounding the white dwarf. Weinberger et.al estimated the size as 17x14 arcmin. Distance is about 1.44 parsecs.
(You can read about the discovery at the ADS at;
http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/full/1983ApJ...265..249W
Whilst this is pretty technical, I think most visual observers could interpret at least the Introduction and the Conclusion - sufficient enough for general understanding . An image of the central star appears on pg.252. Interestingly, I've had this paper for a while, as it has a nice short list of 14 large halo planetaries (pg.254), and has some comments on these nebula in the pages that follow this table. These planetaries are assumed to be highly evolved as well. Some of this might make nice target for imagers who would like real challenges.
The central star of We De1 (WD 0556+106) is a known spectroscopic white dwarf, that has been formally well investigated. This shows a spectral type of DA (or wither DA0 or DA1), had has a radial velocity if 16.0 kms^-1 This a Vmag of 17.4 (Bmag of 17.1, Umag 15.8)'
Studies suggest the absolute magnitude is +6.8 or +9.6, depending on the method used, whose effective surface temperature is 106 000K. There is some suspicion that this is an oxygen rich white dwarf.
Your image is pretty good, especially as the nebulosity must be around 17.4 magnitude, or less.
As to observing it visually, I have little additional information to add. it is unlikely to be visible in either 20cm to 30cm, but larger Dobsonians might have some luck. An [O-III] filter might have some luck improving visibility.

Andrew

Note: I have added a small cut-out and general enhancement of the central region (that I hope you don't mind me doing, and is presented only for illustration) which shows various rays radiating out from the star. This makes it look more like a comet IMO, much like the images gained from spacecraft fly-by in the last few decades. :)

[h0ughy]

WOW i am impressed Scott - you were indeed dodging the rain showers but man wasthe sky dark last night and clear. Well done on bagging this one, you said you would and you did.

[tornado33]

Many thanks all
A very good description of the objects AJames

heres images Ive assembled from the ESO DSS data, specifically assigning red as red, infrared as green and blue as blue. Even on the DSS We De 1 is VERY faint.
Amazing what a consumer DSLR admittidly HA IR modified, operating at room temperature, can do, in the confines of a light polluted area
Scott

[AJames]

You are not wrong in saying this Scott. You should probably write something formally about this and publish it somewhere.
Truly excellent.
Regards, Andrew

[sjastro]

Thanks for showing this unknown.
I might try to image it.

Steven

[tornado33]

Many thanks.
I to love imaging rarey seen objects, or those rarely seen in colour, to push my astro gear as far as possible.
Scott

[Ric]

Fantastic stuff Scott, I am constantly amazed at the detail that cameras are now capturing both DSLR and CCD.

I wonder what we will be posting 10 years from now, the mind boggles.

Cheers

[Karlsson]

I really enjoy your forays far off the beaten track - keep going! :thumbsup:

[theodog]

Abell 12

Took some time out from my portfolio to image this intriguing object.
45x3sec L through 10" F4.5, cropped.:thumbsup: