Abell 31 Planetary Nebula in Cancer

Abell 31 or SH2-290 is an ancient planetary nebula in the constellation of Cancer. It is estimated to be about 2,000 light years away.
Although it is one of the largest planetary nebulae in the sky, extending 17 arc-min, it is very dim. The surface brightness is about 26,9 Mag/arc-sec².
The southern part of the nebula is showing a distinct rounded shock front, the northern part is mixing with the surrounding interstellar matter.
This dissipation is showing the high age of the nebula.

Image data:
Ha-OIII-LRGB (400-400-440-140-140-140 min), total 27,6 h, Seeing 0.8-1.2 arcsec, North is up;
80cm f/7 Astrooptik Keller corrected cassegrain, FLI Proline 16803, Astrodon Gen2 filters, Prompt 7 CTIO Chile

Processing: Johannes Schedler

Find the combined Ha-OIII-LRGB image of the full field below in 25/60 % size.

click for 60% size

Last modified on Friday, 19 April 2019 17:56

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