The ultra obscure planetary nebula GJJC1 in M22

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Hi All, with the dazzling splendours of the Milky Way centre hovering overhead I decided to image.... the nearly invisible and ultra obscure planetary nebula GCCJ1 in the core of M22.

The nebula was first recorded in the IRAS Point Source Catalogue in 1985 and is also known as PK 009-07 1 (J2000.0: 18h 36m 22.82s -23d 55m 18.3s).
It resides among the dense star fields just 1 arc minute from the core of M22. This makes it extremely challenging to image and nearly impossible to observe visually, although some people have seen it visually at high magnifications under excellent seeing conditions.

The visual magnitude of GJJC1 is stated as near 14, and its angular size is only about 3 arc seconds. There is a relatively bright red giant star with an equally bright blue star immediately next to it, and the nebula extends to the south east of these. The blue star is believed to the the central star of the planetary nebula.
The extreme difficulty in imaging this target lies in actually recording the faint nebulous glow, and not only the central star itself, separately from the background light of the myriads of stars in M22.

In the above image I have enlarged a portion of the area around the nebula which I stacked and processed separately (up-sampled 6x from the original image scale). This yields a slightly higher resolution and provides a hint of 'something' to the upper right of the blue star (south east), but is not overly convincing.
However, I also recorded 58 x 16s through an OIII filter, and when I subtracted the optical image from the OIII image the nebula itself became much more pronounced. In the bottom right I have overlaid the result which highlights the nebula better.

Image details:
10" Newtonian f/5, TouCam Pro SC1
Baader UV/IR block filter, Meade OIII filter.
RGB: 76 x 16s, OIII: 58 x 16s.

Image: http://www.pbase.com/rolfolsen/image/136080440/original

For further details please check out Doug Snyder's excellent information here with finder charts and visual observation reports:
http://www.blackskies.org/gjjc_m22_1.htm
http://www.blackskies.org/gjjc_m22_2.htm

Hope you enjoy, and maybe have a go at this one yourself.
Comments and critique welcome.

Regards,
Rolf

[iceman (Mike)]

Now that's obscure alright

I admire your dedication, Rolf!

[Lester]

That is like Hillary climbing Everest. Some of the others were using slightly larger than 10" scopes too, like 90". Well done Rolf, looking forward to your next exercise in astronomy.

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

Nice catch Rolf!

Cheers

Steve

[Hagar (Doug)]

Very nice Rolf. I can see why you call it obscure. That it is.
Well done.

[Alchemy (Clive)]

Quite a challenge, out at the limits there.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

...oh yeh, sure it is

He he, very cool Rolo

Mike

[John Hothersall]

That is an amazing result, I had a go last year but could do no better with my larger scope and longer fl (3200mm) using the Mintron. The OIII does help a little but it is so small, the M15 planetary Pease1 is much easier as it is a little larger.

[Ross G]

Amazing Rolf....straight from the Twilight Zone!

Thanks.

Ross.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Now that's obscure alright

I admire your dedication, Rolf!

Thank you very much Mike Glad you enjoyed it. I like to be dedicated, there is a great satisfaction in hunting down these odd targets

Originally Posted by Lester

That is like Hillary climbing Everest. Some of the others were using slightly larger than 10" scopes too, like 90". Well done Rolf, looking forward to your next exercise in astronomy.

Thank you Lester, yes I'm very happy with getting an image of this one. Something not often imaged!

Originally Posted by Stevec35

Nice catch Rolf!

Cheers

Steve

Thank you Steve, glad you liked it

Originally Posted by Hagar

Very nice Rolf. I can see why you call it obscure. That it is.
Well done.

Thanks Doug, yes it's probably the most obscure thing I have imaged to date

Originally Posted by Alchemy

Quite a challenge, out at the limits there.

Thank you Clive

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

...oh yeh, sure it is

He he, very cool Rolo

Mike

Thanks Mike, you better put on your sunglasses when watching this one

Originally Posted by John Hothersall

That is an amazing result, I had a go last year but could do no better with my larger scope and longer fl (3200mm) using the Mintron. The OIII does help a little but it is so small, the M15 planetary Pease1 is much easier as it is a little larger.

Thank you John, that's an excellent result. It's good to see others attempting these odd targets too I think the higher resolution I have achieved with my new scope definitely helped here.

Originally Posted by Ross G

Amazing Rolf....straight from the Twilight Zone!

Thanks.

Ross.

Thanks Ross, yes it's certainly obscure

[multiweb (Marc)]

Wow! That's extreme imaging Rolf. I would have put that down to chromatic aberration.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Wow! That's extreme imaging Rolf. I would have put that down to chromatic aberration.

Aw, are you trying to imply that this visual feast of a PN doesn't exactly jump out at you? Now I'm disappointed
Nah, thanks Marc, glad you liked it It's fun imaging these things.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Just fantastic, mate. I really admire your effort and your awesome output of obscure and faint objects.

I often find myself just staring and thinking when viewing your images.

H

[jase (Jason)]

Tip of the hat to you Rolf. Excellent!

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Originally Posted by Octane

Just fantastic, mate. I really admire your effort and your awesome output of obscure and faint objects.

I often find myself just staring and thinking when viewing your images.

H

Thank you very much H, I'm glad you liked it. Your comment is very encouraging I'm really looking forward to getting a better cam at the end of the year so I can continue the hunt for the obscure.

Originally Posted by jase

Tip of the hat to you Rolf. Excellent!

Thanks a lot Jase

[atalas]

You did that with a TouCam? terrific work.... Ha! I would of cloned that planetary out thinking It was noise! boy,I'm going to be more careful from now on.

Just goes to show that you can do great work with any gear If you are dedicated enough.

[Ross G]

An impressive capture Rolf.

Thanks.

Ross.

[gregbradley]

That's a pretty wild capture.

You have to have a lot of confidence in your processing to spot that.

It would be easy to assume it was noise or colour artifacts.

Greg.