http://www.pbase.com/jshuder/image/136810005/original NB IMAGE
aka MINKOWSKI 4-9
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?2004MNRAS.353..589P&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf
______________________

On the Edge of Darkness

Minkowski 4-9 aka PK 024+05.1 is a nice planetary nebula in a great field.  The dark Nebula to the west is LDN 472 with LDN 469 to the southwest.  Strips of dust can be seen even on the eastern side of the field as the color of the stars seems very uneven being redder in thin veins indicating a lot of dust in the area.  Distance estimates are all over the place for this one.  The newest I could find says about 5,600 light-years.  The paper goes into how this was determined showing the difficulties involved with measuring planetary nebulae distances.  The PDF is at: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?2004MNRAS.353..589P&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf
Assuming the 5,600 light-year distance the nebula is about 1.3 light-years across its longest dimension and 1.1 across its semi-major axis. 

I get asked a lot why I use such a large chip when I image such small objects.  This image is a good answer to that question.  To me the setting is as important as the object.  This one could use an even larger FOV for this small object.

For a great high resolution narrow band image of this nebula see Jim Shuder's image at: http://www.pbase.com/jshuder/image/136810005/original 

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick