Abell 72 - A diamond guarded by the Dolphin

[Yoddha]

Delphinus is one of the small constellations in the northern sky. It is frequently overlooked because there are so many famous objects in the nearby constellations... Somehow it became the most favorite summer constellation of my wife Maria and decided that I have to put something fancy under the belt from there... Also, it is our kind of first-level measurement of how good the sky is. No Delphinus, find something else to do

By the way, if someone has missed it, Gamma Delphinus - the nose of the dolphin, is very beautiful color contrast binary

Abell 72 (PK 059+18.1) is very interesting planetary which is a well-kept secret by the Dolphin. It is faint and requires a serious amount of imaging time. The OIII signal is strongest (while it still has low surface brightness) and frequently is the only narrowband filter used to image this beauty. The Ha channel is four times weaker... So, I have decided to use an unusual strategy and to image the Ha channel in 2x2 binning. It had paid off giving more 3D effects and more details than the other images (few of them available) without spending too much time.

The available information about the the nebula is not too much It is around 3700 l.y. away, approximately 2 l.y. wide. The low surface brightness is a sign that it is an old planetary nebula. 

Total 12h 10min in 5 nights - Ha (116x300s), OIII (30x300s), RC250 @ f/5.5, ASI2600MM, CEM60, Astrodon 3nm filters
Acquisition : APT - Astro Photography Tool, PHD2
Processing: PixInsight, PS

Hope you will enjoy the sight

Edited September 12, 2023 by Yoddha

[bottletopburly]

That is very nice ivo 👍

[Roy Foreman]

Excellent.

[simmo39]

Lovely image.

[Yoddha]

Thank you very much!