HDW 2 (Hartl-Dengl-Weinberger 2)

[Jedi2014]

Due to bad weather, I couldn't do anything for many weeks, so I am happy to finally be able to show a picture again. It's a real exotic:

HDW 2 (Hartl-Dengl-Weinberger 2), also known as Sharpless 2-200 or PNG 138.1+04.1, is a quite old planetary nebula (PN) in the constellation Cassiopeia at RA 3hr 11m 29s and DEC +62d 45m 5s. The nebula is also called "Bearclaw nebula".
The bright part of the object has a diameter of about 6', north is at the top left.
According to W. A. Weidmann and R. Gamen, who have examined the central stars of different PNs, the central star of HDW 2 is a binary star.
The color of the object is a mixture out of blue/green OIII and red/magenta Ha. The Planetary Nebula is almost spherical with pronounced stripes and a darker area to the south, surrounded by a thin fissure. What looks like an outer bright H-Alpha ring or halo is probably the edge of an extended spherical envelope from another previous explosive event. This weak halo reaches to a small open cluster of stars, Trumpler 3.

Despite some research, I wasn't able getting the distance of this PN. Maybe one of you knows it?

Frank Iwaszkiewicz (www.deep-sky-astroteam.de) and I have once again joined forces for a cooperation project for this extremely weak representative. The version shown above corresponds approximately to the field of the Epsilon.

HA and[OIII] were exposed for the nebula, as well as RGB for the background and the stars.
Due to the bad weather, the project lasted from October to January.

You can find the exact exposure data on my (or Franks) homepage: http://www.spaceimages.de/en/astrophotos/nebula/hdw-2
Or here: https://www.astrobin.com/323127/E

Smaller field of view of my 10" Newton:

 

Best regards
Jens

[Shibby]

Stunning image - great work. I've either never seen this, or just not seen it anywhere near this well presented!

[Ruud]

It's an amazing object and a great piece of work. Awesome!

[Allinthehead]

Well that's a beauty.

[Tom OD]

I love seeing new objects. This is super. I can see why its called the Bear Claw. Nice bow front on it too, or is that a ring in the bubble?

Tom

[Davey-T]

Lovely object

Distance quoted as 660pc here

Click on large PN on left

http://www.reinervogel.net/index_e.html

Dave

[ollypenrice]

Bravo guys. We've seen enough of M33 to last several lifetimes! This is a great object and truly astronomical, as is your write-up and, above all, your image itself. Besides the delicate object you have a fine background sky and star colour. I'm inspired by this unusual target and I hope others will be similarly inspired. Image of the month for me - even if it's only the 11th of Jan!!

Olly

[sharkmelley]

Excellent work!  A beautiful object that I've never heard of.  Processed very nicely.

Mark

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Lovely image! I love the many variations PNs come in. Haven't spotted this one ever (might need to borrow Olly's "Sir Isaac" 20" Dob for that)

[MikeODay]

Wonderful image of a very unusual object - well done!

[Jedi2014]

Thank you all for your nice feedback.

greetings

Jens

[Petergoodhew]

I've never heard of this - very exotic! And what an unusual appearance.  Really beautiful.  Well done!

[Gedan]

Really unusual object and great job with the processing.

[Barry-Wilson]

I couldn't agree more with the sentiments expressed - well researched and presented Jens.

Delightful image and motivating work.  Top notch .

[steppenwolf]

Lovely to see a new object (to me) like this - very sympathetically processed too.