Ngc 3699

[Lester]

Hi all, got this planetary tonight amongst cloud and windy conditions that tested out the auto guiding. This is 7 x 5 minute exposures, at iso 800 with Astro 40D and 14" LX200 at F6.3 .

This object is magnitude 11.3, and 0.8' diameter, in the constellation of Centaurus. I would like to try this planetary again with longer exposures to help bring out the fainter outer regions.

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Lester_045/Nebula%20images/41a04149.jpg

[CoolhandJo]

The colours are amazing! The star field rich as well! Nice interesting target. Good one :)

[tornado33]

Great image , shows some of the outer stuff and nice pink inner sections. What I find amazing about that object is that so few image it. Yours is the only colour pic Ive seen other than mine :)
Its ironic it is in Centaurus, as it looks like a blue and pink version of NGC 5128
Scott

[Lester]

Thanks Paul and Scott for your comments. I did a search on IIS for images and found yours Scott taken a few years back. It is a very unusual planetary, noted as "bi-polar", and yes looks like a cousin to Centaurus A.

All the best.

[Lester]

I have just done a deconvolution on this image with some curves to bring out the outer region more.

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Lester_045/Nebula%20images/354e4203.jpg

[Exfso]

Lester, the star colors are really nice, how did you get these with the 40D? I find mine tend to be oversatured and all bright white!

[Lester]

Hi Peter, 90% of my processing is done with curves in Photoshop. Click on the detail in the object imaged, and click on the bright stars. Then I brighten the nebula and do the opposite to the bright stars. This stops the stars from becomming over saturated from my experience.

All the best.

[Ross G]

Hi Lester,

An unusual object and great colours.

It's good to see something new.

Thanks.

Ross.

[Stevec35]

Very nice! I tried this myself once but wasn't happy with the result. Yours is much better.

Cheers

Steve

[Lester]

Thanks for your comments Ross. All the best.

[multiweb]

Nice details and colors. Beautiful work. :thumbsup:

[Lester]

Thanks Steve and Marc, glad you liked it also.