here's one I've been meaning to take for years but never got around to until last weekend.
This nebula is in Norma and also in the outskirts of the huge emission region NGC6188 in Ara. Like Thor's Helmet it's driven by a wolf-rayet star mag 6.7 SAO226891 in the center of the image.
Thanks Andrew, Dennis, Mike and Scott! I'm really happy with the outcome. I thought that the bright star was going to make it very difficult to bring out the dim inner nebulosity, but the long focal ratio tamed it considerably and allowed 10-minute exposures without too much blooming. Mixed blessings from the slow optical system.
Dennis, looking forward to Astrofest again this year! It's be good to catch up with you again.
Eddie, how do you decide which objects your are going to image. do you have a plan you're working through or do you just throw a dark at a sky map???
I have a fairly large object schedule for various publications that I try to adhere to. Many of the latest objects have been requested and/or commissioned.
But sometimes there may be no scheduled objects readily placed. Then I'll draw on personal preference to pick something that is well-placed, usually I try to pick something bright if this is the case. Over the years there has been many objects I've wanted to image but never got around to, and there are others that I was never completely happy with that I've wanted to re-image.
There are also many bright southern patches in my milky way mosaic that have rarely been imaged to any great depth or resolution, that I want to take at longer focal length to see just what's there. I've done a few using the mosaic as a reference with excellent results. It's amazing how many large bright patches we have down here that have never been deeply imaged.
If you had to choose just one, and only one object to image, which one would you choose and why? Sorry to put you on the spot (not really ), but I'm be really interested to know.