Sh2-200, aka LBN 674, aka HDW 2, aka PNG 138.1+04.1, aka The Bearclaw Planetary Nebula

[gorann]

Stewart Sharpless discovered this nebula in 1959 and included it in his catalogue of HII regions found in photographic plates taken at the Palomar Observatory. This is a bit odd as the brightest part is primarily emitting blue Oiii. However, this image shows that there is quite a lot of Ha emission surrounding it.  Beverly Lynds subsequently included it in her catalogue of bright nebulae as LBN 674. In 1983 astronomers Herbert Hartl, Johann Dengel and Ronald Weinberger included Sh2-200 as HDW2 in their catalogue of possible planetary nebulae. Finally in 2017 it was confirmed to be a true planetary nebula (PNG 138.1+04.1).

To the right of the PN we can see Trumpler 3, an open star cluster, and up in the top left corner there is a bluish smudge that I found in the HASH database to be a true PN named PNG 139.0+03.2 (possibly a first on Astrobin)

This is a HOO image (so Ha to the red channel and Oiii to the blue and green channels), and it is the first proper image taken with my Edge HD11 with Hyperstar v4.

Camera is a QHY268MM with Baader f/2 4nm Oiiii filter (28 x 5 min) and Antlia 3nm Ha filter (22 x 5 min), so about 4 hours with this light bucket. Processed in PI and PS with the XT tools.

Cheers, Göran

Edited April 17 by gorann

[ONIKKINEN]

Looks like a shadow, or shell of some kind within the PN. Bits blown off the star prior to becoming a PN maybe?

[gorann]

1 hour ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Looks like a shadow, or shell of some kind within the PN. Bits blown off the star prior to becoming a PN maybe?

Yes I always wonder why a PN looks the way it looks. They are all different.

[ollypenrice]

That's really good. 

Olly

[gorann]

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

That's really good. 

Olly

Thanks Olly! I bought the Hyperstar many months ago but postponed using it since I thought I would have to spend several nights collimating it. I am now so surprised how well this f/1.9 Hyperstar system behaves just from start - no collimation needed as there are very minor issues with star shapes (the AI of BlurXT2 probably laughed at those when being fixed). I have had more trouble with my RASA8 stars, where I just hope for the best every time I have to detach a camera for changing filter. With the Hyperstar system I have a filter slider. I might just be lucky but then it is Hyperstar version 4 of the optics so probably they made serious progress.

[tomato]

Possibly a first on Astrobin, that’s quite an achievement.👍

[gorann]

4 hours ago, tomato said:

Possibly a first on Astrobin, that’s quite an achievement.👍

Thanks Steve!

[Pompey Monkey]

Fantastic - you always seem to be pushing what the "amateur" imager can achieve.

Also @ollypenrice's comment is probably as close as he ever gets to being speechless.

High praise indeed!

[gorann]

8 hours ago, Pompey Monkey said:

Fantastic - you always seem to be pushing what the "amateur" imager can achieve.

Also @ollypenrice's comment is probably as close as he ever gets to being speechless.

High praise indeed!

Thanks a lot for your kind words!

Cheers Göran