The most southern planetary in the sky?

[tornado33]

Hi
last night I went for the most southern planetary in the sky (that I know of anyway). On Star Atlas pro no other PN is closer to the SCP than this one.

NGC 3195
6x5 mins ISO400. UV/IR filter, Baader MPCC coma corrector, modded 350D, 10 inch f5.6 newtonian

It was odd seeing the scope pointing almost right along the polar axis. Imaging stuff this close to the SCP means polar alingment is more critical than ever. Because I guide off axis the tiniest misalingment means fielf rotation and trailed stars. I dont think collimation is 100% either as Id had the mirror out for cleaning and didnt do a full star collimation afterwards.

I guess the advantage of an object like this is that we can image it anytime in the year, even at its lowest its not too bad for southern observers. Seeing only average, the guidestar occasionally blurring, then steadying.
Scott

[h0ughy]

Looks like a mini helix - well done Mr Alder

[Karlsson]

Nice one - shows it as a much more interesting object as compared to my view of it two days ago... and it makes one wonder how it earned its nickname of 'grey nebula' :thumbsup:

[RB]

That looks cool Scott, interesting info too.
I'd like to look it up and see how close it is to the pole.

Well done.

[PhotonCollector]

Very nice to see such southern planetaries - never knew it existed until i saw your image.

BTW this may help your search for planetaries ?

The 100 Brightest Planetary Nebula South of 0° Declination
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=63,307,0,0,1,0

regards
Paul

[rogerg]

-80 51' .... that's beyond my telescope's limits! I'm limited to -70. (fork base & ST7 don't mix well).

Nice shot. It'd be good to see it larger :)

[rogerg]

I'm interested in this statement, could you elaborate any more? I have often had unexpected trouble photographing far southern or far northern objects with my portable setup (Losmandy GM8) and haven't been sure why, as I thought objects near the celestial equator would show the largest drift error?

[tornado33]

many thanks all.
Rodger, I too was surprised as Id taken care to get the alingment quite close. The first couple of subs had trailing even though I could see the guiding was going well. I also noted I was having to occaisionally make DEC corrections northwards. The dec shaft was at about 45% altitude, so I split the difference and slightly moved the mount very slightly to the left in azimuth, and also slightly higher in altitude. The dec corrections required were then much less and the stars no longer trailed. I was wondering it it was tube flexure, or just polar alingment that just wasnt accurate enough at the start. If it was tube flexure then perhaps the change in polar alingment was offsetting it.

yes youre right I always though objects near the equator show the largest error and thus thats the best place to do drift alingment, I cant really explain it, except to be prepared to re-adjust polar alingment when imaging close to the SCP even if Im convinced its right to start with.

I guess its called the gray planetary as like most nebulae it isnt bright enough to see colour in.
Thanks, Paul Ive not got that list saved.
Scott
EDIT: heres a full res. crop :)

[Karlsson]

Just for the fun of it I checked the SIMBAD database to see whether there are any PN south of this one, no matter how faint or insignificant...

The only object it returned was ESO 011-01, listed as a 'possible PN' at RA 20h35.5m, Dec -83°03' - 'possible' in this case probably means 'not a galaxy'.

So I guess that makes NGC 3195 indeed the southernmost confirmed PN...

[PhotonCollector]

yes that's right. According to STAR AtlasPRO ESO 011-001 is infact a Galaxy of BMag. 15.03 with a size of 0.49' x 0.36'. It also says this galaxy is also catalogued as

PGC221903
2MASXJ20353649-8302242
ESOLV0110010

If you like,I can query the STAR AtlasPRO database to find the southern most planetary that it knows about.

regards
Paul

[PhotonCollector]

Yeah.. the southern most planetary found by STAR AtlasPRO was NGC 3195 @ DEC -80° 51'.

[Hagar]

Nice image Scott. Tricky little b******s to catch on disk. Hard to find and focus on. A credit to your skills.
well done

[Ric]

A fascinating looking planetary Scott, lovely colour and detail.

[citivolus]

It certainly looks like a galaxy. Attached is from the DSS2 red plate.

[tornado33]

thanks all
Yes I looked at the SCP area in Star Atlas pro, with the magnitude filter off and NGC 3195 was the closest PN to the SCP that appeared.
Thats an odd galaxy Paul, might be something for the CCD camp to image to bring out more detail than on the DSS plate.
Scott