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IC 4406 Planetary Nebula in visible Light

Lupus

 (ra: 14:22.4 / dec - 44:09)

 

 

 

 

June 2012, Home Backyard in Martinez

Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

 

 

DATA

TYPE: Planetary Nebula

APPARENT MAGNITUDE: 10.2

SIZE: 1.77 x 0.5 arcs minutes

DISTANCE: 1900 light years

 

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

During the month Southern fall, Lupus the “Wolf” rises and prowls the skies after midnight. Lupus was one of the 48 original constellations listed by the first century astronomer Ptolemy and on its western border is a Wolf-Rayet planetary nebula – IC 4406 – which contains some of the hottest stars known to be in existence.

We are seeing this object in perspective from its equatorial plane and therefore the "brush shape" appearance. While the function that shapes this structure isn’t exactly clear to astronomers, many believe it may belong to the physical process known as bipolar outflow: continuous highly energetic streams of gas emanating from the poles of a star. Bipolar outflow can occur with protostars where a dense, concentrated jet produces a supersonic shock fronts. (*)

(*) Universetoday

 

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: Celestron SCT 8" Starizona 0.8 Corrector

MOUNT: Sky Watcher NEQ6

SKY CONDITIONS: Urban Skies - seeing good - transparency bad

CAMERAS: QSI 583 WS -10Cº

FILTERS: Baader 31 mm LRGB, Ha 6 mnAstronomik

EXPOSURES: LHaRGB (20,20,20,20,20) all bin 1x1

GUIDING: William Optics ZenithStar 66 f6. Starlight Xpress Lodestar Camera. PHD Guiding 

PROCESSING: Images Plus, NASA Photoshop Fits Liberator, Photoshop CS