Supernova remnant CTA 1

[RickS (Rick)]

A large but very dim target. This one has been kicking my processing butt for a few months but I think I've finally made something of the 70 hours of data. Thanks to Sakib Rasool for suggesting it as a target... maybe I did something to upset him and this was his revenge

There's a bright planetary, NGC 40, at approximately 8 o'clock that's unrelated to the SNR. CTA 1 also contains the the first ever high magnetic field pulsar to be discovered through its gamma-ray pulsations, PSR J0007+7303, but sadly it didn't appear to be visible in this image.

Captured at SRO, Apr-Dec, 2017

Objects in image:
CTA 1, NGC 40, PSR J0007+7303?

Scope: Ceravolo C300 @ f/4.9 = 1470mm FL
Mount: AP1100
Camera: FLI PL16803
Focuser: Atlas
Filters: Astrodon
Guiding: Lodestar II / Tak guide scope
Image scale: 1.26 arcsec/pixel (Drizzled to double res)
Exposures: 12x300s R, 9x300s G, 12x300s B, 64x1800s Ha, 70x1800 Oiii (69.75 hours NB)
Processing: PixInsight 1.8.5

Acquisition credit: Scott Johnson, Augusto Hernandez, John Kasianowicz, Daniele Malleo, Jose Mtanous and Rick Stevenson

Processing credit: Rick Stevenson

High res version on Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/full/328713/0/

[joelshort (Joel)]

That's great! NGC40 really stands out. Well done.

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by joelshort

That's great! NGC40 really stands out. Well done.

Thanks, Joel. It's a challenging field!

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Superb work rick looks like a super faint object.

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by rustigsmed

Superb work rick looks like a super faint object.

Thanks, Russ. The Ha and Oiii masters were very noisy despite the integration time.

[Ross G]

What an amazing capture Rick.

Beautiful, delicate detail.

A great photo of another new object for me.

Thanks.
Ross.

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by Ross G

What an amazing capture Rick.

Beautiful, delicate detail.

A great photo of another new object for me.

Thanks, Ross!

[Bart]

That is rather lovely, nice colouring, good presentation.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Top shot Rick, a great field that, quite similar to parts of Vela really and how much does NGC 40 look like The Little Ghost NGC 6369 I thought it was at first, same apparent size and everything...uncanny

Mike

[Andy01 (Andy)]

70hrs Man that must be a dim target!
Amazing similarity to Vela SNR as Mike also mentioned above, wonder how many more SNR's there are out there that have been overlooked as targets?

Well done Rick - delicately processed too!

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by Bart

That is rather lovely, nice colouring, good presentation.

Thanks, Bart!

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Top shot Rick, a great field that, quite similar to parts of Vela really and how much does NGC 40 look like The Little Ghost NGC 6369 I thought it was at first, same apparent size and everything...uncanny

Ta, Mikey! It's like Vela through sunglasses

I hadn't noticed the similarity to NGC 6369 but it is obvious now that you mention it.

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by Andy01

70hrs Man that must be a dim target!
Amazing similarity to Vela SNR as Mike also mentioned above, wonder how many more SNR's there are out there that have been overlooked as targets?

Well done Rick - delicately processed too!

Thanks, Andy! It really, really is dim. To the extent that you can only see vague hints in 1800 sec NB subs. I had to push the data very hard... and it shows if you look too closely

I agree that there are probably a lot more dim SNRs out there that have been neglected or just missed completely. I have a couple more on my list already!

[gregbradley]

That's a stunning image Rick. 70 hours, wow. It must be dim. It looks like a dim Vela SNR.

Great processing as per your usual high standards.

Greg.

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

That's a stunning image Rick. 70 hours, wow. It must be dim. It looks like a dim Vela SNR.

Great processing as per your usual high standards.

Thanks, Greg!

[beren]

Awesome Rick, congrats

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by beren

Awesome Rick, congrats

Thanks, Stuart!

[alpal]

Hi Rick,
a great result on a target that most people wouldn't try to image-
it's just too dim.
The nearest pic I could find was here:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/080...endler1200.jpg

cheers
Allan

[Flugel88 (Michael)]

Looks fantastic must be very dim almost 70 hours at f4.9 would take me a years to collect the same amount of photons.
Colours are excellent well blended.
Was it difficult to pull the OIII data out?

[willik (Willik)]

That is a good quality image not easy that is tops
Martin

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

That's beautifully done, Rick.

It's such a pity that so many SNR's are either too small to see detail, too faint to see anything, or so close that they hugely overflow the field of view and have low surface brightness. Here, with lots of hours, you've done a splendid job.

Best,
MnT