Wray 17-31 / 44 / PN G277.7-3.5 / Planetary Nebula

I have always loved imaging planetary nebula. They are so varied in shape and form but always beautiful in their presentation. At times it’s difficult to forget that they are the result of some pretty extreme forces, good old explosions, and a bit of general stellar carnage.

 

The photo was constructed using a monochrome camera with four filters: Lum, Red, Green, and Blue. Once combined into a traditional RGB Colour image, we can see a massive range in star colours across the field. I think this is always a treat to see in astrophotography.

 

This object is located in the southern hemisphere in the constellation of Vela. In 1966, James D. Wray catalogued this wonderful PN. It is pretty small, around 2 acr min and fairly dim around magnitude 15.

 

Instruments:

Telescope: 10" Ritchey-Chrétien RCOS

Camera: SBIG STL-11000 Mono

Mount: Astro-Physics AP-900

Focal Length: 2310.00 mm

Pixel size: 9.00 um

Resolution: 0.82 arcsec/pix

 

Exposure Details:

Red 12X600

Green 12X600

Blue 12X600

Lum 44 X 900

Total Exposure 17 Hours.

Thanks for looking

 

Done