Little Ghost Nebula Contains: NGC 6369

Imaging telescopes or lenses: SkyWatcher 200P

Imaging cameras: Nikon D7000

Guiding telescopes or lenses: SkyWatcher ST80

Guiding cameras: ORION StarShoot AutoGuider

Software: Adobe Photoshop CS6

Resolution: 2059x1555

Dates: March 3, 2014

Locations: Home Pier Mounted

Frames: 10x120" ISO800

Integration: 0.3 hours

Darks: ~10

Flats: ~10

Avg. Moon age: 1.85 days

Avg. Moon phase: 3.83%

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 7.00

Temperature: 32.00

RA center: 262.337 degrees

DEC center: -23.753 degrees

Pixel scale: 0.328 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: 73.330 degrees

Field radius: 0.118 degrees

Description

The Little Ghost Nebula NGC 6369

This is a remarkable planetary ring nebula known as the Little Ghost Nebula. Discovered by Herschel in 1784, the planetary nebula forms an almost perfectly circular ring. However, the magnitude 16 central star is actually off center. The nebula shines at magnitude 13 and has a size of 38.0 arc-seconds. Planetary nebulae are formed by an expanding shell of gas thrown off explosively by a dying star. The gasses forming the nebula fluoresce as a result of ultraviolet radiation from the central star.