A planetary nebula is an expanding shell of gas in space produced by stars with masses between 1 and 8 solar masses at the end of their lives in the giant branch of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. It is an emission nebula composed mainly of ionised gas.

Jones-1 was discovered only recently, in 1941, by Rebecca Jones (The blue magnitude 15.25 star in the centre has the following J2000 coordinates: RA: 23h35m53.32, DEC: +30°28′06.4″). She not only discovered Jones-1, but also Jones-Emberson-1 that I recorded earlier (see below). Jones-1 (also known as PK_104-29.1, PN_Jn1 and PNG104.2-29.6) is located 2300 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation of Pegasus.

The image was taken on 13 and 19 November and 12 December 2022 with the SkyWatcher Esprit 150ED, ZWO EFW with ZWO RGB and H-alpha, O-iii and S-ii filters, and ZWO ASI1600MM Pro Cool camera.

Processing in APP (stack, combine, light pollution correction and star color), Siril (green noise correction), Topaz (noise reduction) and PSP (histogram stretch, saturation).

The following data was collected to produce adjacent image:

A total of 23 hours and 21 minutes of data was collected.

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During 9 nights in April 2020 I imaged Jones-Emberson-1, better known as the headphones nebula. The nebula is also known under its catalogue name PK 164+31.1. This planetary nebula in the constellation of Lynx is located at a distance of 1600 light-year from earth. It was discovered by Rebecca Jones in collaboration with Richard M. Emberson in 1939. The nebula has a magnitude of 14, while the central blue-white dwarf.

The following data was collected to produce adjacent image:

In total this equals 46 hours and 20 minutes. Re-processed in September 2022 using PSP and Topaz.

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The first attempt to shoot a deep sky object in full colour was on 4 November 2018 with M27, better known as the Dumbbell Nebula, using the SkyWatcher Esprit 150ED APO and ZWO ASI1600MM Pro Cool camera (see figure 3). On a single night 2 hours and 20 minutes of data was collected:

The image is the result of RGB, Ha, O-III and S-II, luminance was not used. In the processing all components were given a weight factor 1. Finally the image was cropped to 66% and given additional 35% colour saturation and 15% contrast. The flats were not perfect as can be seen when opening the original image.

The brightest star (left side of the image) is 14 Vulpeculae in the constellation of Vulpecula.

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Using the same dataset I decided in 2024 to give this planetary nebula another go to see if with my current processing skills I would arrive at a better result. The data is still quite limited and suffers from issues I had with the original narrow-band filters and the fact that during the imaging I had not yet applied filter masks to the filter wheel. As a result the corners have some background-colour issues, while the bright star (14 Vulpeculae) at the left has a terrible halo.

Still the outcome is much more pleasing to the eye.

The original image is here.

On 13 and 14 December 2018 data was collected from M57, better known as the ring nebula (see figure 5), using the SkyWatcher Esprit 150ED APO and ZWO ASI1600MM Pro Cool camera. With 10 subs of 120 seconds per colour data was acquired in L, R, G, B, H-Alpha and O-III. Apart from luminance, which was added at 70% level all channels were combined at 100%. Once combined 60% saturation and 15% contrast were added, while green was slightly reduced (-5%). Finally the image was cropped to 45%. In contrast to M27 the flats were now much better.

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During three nights in March and April 2021 the Owl nebula was imaged. M106 can be found in the constellation Ursa Major. The distance to this planetary nebula is approximately 2030 light years. It was discovered in 1781 by astronomer and surveyor Pierre Méchain, well known as the surveyor who, together with colleague Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre measured the Paris meridian between Dunkirk and Barcelona in order to define the length of the metre.

A total of 12 and a half hour of light was collected.

Processing in APP, post-processing in PSP.

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In the nights of 10, 18 and 23 March 2022 I have been imaging NGC 6543, better known as the Cat's Eye Nebula. It is a planetary nebula with a very attractive shape.

A total of 215 subs of 420s each in Ha, O-iii and S-ii were shot, making the total integration time 25 hours and 5 minutes.

Processing in APP, post-processing in PSP, Topaz and Siril.

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Sometimes one chooses a target that is almost impossible to image from the light pulluted skies we have here at InFINNity Deck. With Bortle 5-8 (depending on the direction) it is at times a challenge to image faint targets. On the nights beginning on 9, 14, 15, 17, and 18 March 2025, I collected some data from PK136+05.1, also known as HFG1, a type F planetary nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia at about 1,600 light-years from Earth, discovered by in 1982 by Heckathorn, Fesen and Gull (hence the name HFG1). It was produced by the fast moving binary star system (V664 Cas). Within the same frame another planetary nebula PK136+04.1, also known as Abell 6, can be found.

Captured unguided with the SkyWatcher Esprit 80ED, ZWO filters and ZWO ASI1600MM Pro Cool, in narrowband. A total of 35 hours and 38.5 minutes of integration time was pent on this target:

Capturing done in NINA, processing in APP, PSP and Topaz. Being captured under light polluted skies and during full moon it was terribly difficult to get out the faint O-iii and H-alpha data, resulting in this mediocre image.

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On April 2, 2023, I was excited to work on a new narrowband object: Sh2-174, also known as the Valentine Rose Nebula. The nebula is located in the constellation Cepheus at a distance of 980 light years from Earth. It is one of the oldest planetary nebulae and is said to be special because the white dwarf is not located in the centre of the nebula. The white dwarf can be seen just to the left of the bright orange star at the centre of the bright blue part of the nebula. At magnitude 14.7, this is a difficult nebula to photograph, especially from a Bortle 5-6 location.

Imaging was done on April 2, 13, 29, May 13 and August 10 and 19 with the SkyWatcher Esprit 150ED, ZWO ASI EFW with ZWO narrowband filters and a ZWO ASI1600MM Pro Cool. All subs are 7 minutes and imaged unguided. A total of 28 hours and 42 minutes of integration time was pent on this target:

Capturing done in NINA, processing in APP, PSP and Topaz.

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