[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Placidus has pretty good light grasp but is strongly limited by seeing. Best suited to huge faint things. Here we have a crack at the exact opposite, with limited success.

NGC 5189 is a beautiful planetary in Musca, showing strong spiral structure, like water from a rotated garden hose. Length about 3 min arc. Hubble palette. 6 x 1hr subs in each channel. One explanation for the structure is that there is a binary companion, and polar jets are precessing. The whole thing is reminiscent of a sea-horse or a tiny embryonic dragon.

The Eight Burst nebula in Antlia, NGC 3132, is half that size. Very bright. 3 x 30 min subs in each channel. There is an egg-shaped cavity filled with blue OIII emission. The cavity is surrounded by a yellow-green beard, stronger in H-alpha and SII. Within that cavity, one can just make out what appears to be an equatorial ring, seen almost edge-on, dividing the cavity into halves. The general effect is of a microscopic creature such as a paramecium.

Best,
M & T