Hi all, it is quite a while since I have posted in this group and I would like to be back here with a particular image, a kind of a "first" as it is of an object which I believe was never imaged before by any amateur.
The Betta Fish Nebula (G296.5+10.0 Supernova Remnant)
G296.5+10.0 in Centaurus is a very large supernova remnant that consists of a series of filaments spread out over an area of more than 1 degree near Rho Centauri. The optical shell was discovered in 1974 and has never been studied or imaged. To the best of my knowledge this is to date the first and only color image ever published of this object. This supernova remnant closely reminds me a Betta Fish ("Betta Splendens", also known as Siamese Fighting Fish, a popular freshwater fish native to Southeast Asia), floating in the deep cosmic void.
I have used for this picture a Takahashi CCA250 coupled with an ASI6200MM and 36 hours of total exposure thorugh 6 filters:
Ha (810 min), OIII (885 min), L (180 min), B (100 min), G (100 min) and R (100 min).
If anyone wants to try here are the coordinates of this object:
RA=12:07:55, Dec=-52:14:08. Many thanks to Sakib Rasool (
https://www.starsurfin.co.uk/) who brought this elusive target to my attention.
Clear skies to everyone!
Marco