Longmore-Tritton 5, commonly known as LoTr 5, is a fascinating planetary nebula located in the constellation Coma Berenices. LoTr 5 is an expansive nebula, extending over 15 light-years across, making it one of the largest planetary nebulae known. The nebula's central star, an aging red giant, has shed its outer layers, creating a complex structure of glowing gas. The core remnant of the star, now a hot white dwarf, illuminates the ejected material, producing the characteristic luminescence observed in planetary nebulae.

LoTr 5 is particularly notable for its unusual morphology and large size, which suggest it has undergone significant interactions with the interstellar medium. This interaction creates an intricate pattern of knots and filaments within the nebula, visible in detailed astrophotographic images. The study of such planetary nebulae provides valuable insights into the late stages of stellar evolution and the processes by which stars enrich the interstellar medium with heavy elements, contributing to the cycle of star formation in the galaxy.

Abell 61 is a planetary nebula situated in the constellation Cygnus. As a remnant of a dying star's outer layers, it showcases a spherical shell of ionized gas, illuminated by the central white dwarf star. The intricate structures within the nebula are a testament to the star's final stages of evolution. Abell 61's presence in the night sky allows astronomers to delve into the complex processes that occur during a star's demise, providing insights into the universe's continuous cycle of creation and transformation.

Image Description and Details :

I captured Jones 1 back in 2019, but wanted to really add on more data to not only bring out more detail, but that Ha off to the side as well: The planetary nebula Jones 1 (Jn 1, PK 104-29.1, VV '578) was discovered in 1941 by the American astronomer Rebecca Jones on photo plates of the Harvard Observatory. Two years earlier, together with Richard M. Emberson, she discovered another planetary nebula: Jones-Emberson 1 (PK 164+31.1) in the constellation Lynx. The designation PK 104-29.1 comes from the two Czechoslovak astronomers Luboš Perek and Luboš Kohoutek, who in 1967 compiled a catalog of all the planetary nebulae of the Milky Way known at the time. The designation VV '578 goes back to the Russian astronomer Boris Vorontsov-Velyaminov, who studied and classified planetary nebulae in addition to cataloging galaxies. Jones 1 is a large planetary nebula with an angular diameter of 320 arcseconds, but a faint with only 15 magnitudes. The central star is 16.8 magnitudes bright. Distance measurements range from 716 pc to 826 pc (around 2300 to 2700 light years).

Copyright: Douglas J Struble

Image Description and Details :

I was rather reluctant to take the object on given my bortle sky scale of 8 and how few clear nights we have had this year in Michigan, USA. I decided to give it a shot anyways, however. It really could of used twice the amount of integration time I have into it, though. It was extremely hard to process and pull out the detail. I have learned over the years that doing narrowband imaging evens the playing field with highly light polluted skies like mine EXCEPT when the object is faint like this one.

EGB 4 (Ellis-Grayson-Bond 4) is a binary star system that is not well understood. In most cataclysmic variables, matter from a normal star accumulates on the surface of the companion white dwarf star, eventually causing a nova-like flare as the material becomes hot enough to ignite nuclear fusion. In this case, however, light appears to flicker unpredictably, and an unusually large wind of particles is being expelled. The wind creates a large bow-shock as the system moves through surrounding interstellar gas. It lies about 2500 light-years away toward the constellation of Camelopardalis.

Copyright: Douglas J Struble

Image Details:

Abell 30 planetary nebula proved to be a very challenging target. It is super faint and even with over 64 hours of OIII alone, I had to really push the data hard. Furthermore being a binary dwarf system that somehow reignited, I really wanted to make sure I did not blow out the core; even the Hubble Telescope blew the core out through X-Ray imaging.

Abell 30 is a planetary nebula, that stage in the star’s life when the two winds are colliding, and the central star is lighting them up like a neon sign. The circular shape on the outside is the giant wind, expanding away in a spherical shell like a soap bubble (and also slightly brightened along the outer edge as it rams into the thin gas between stars). It’s actually rare to get a nearly perfect circular outer halo like that, so this is neat.But it’s those tendrils of gas on the inside that are so very interesting. What astronomers think happened here is that the dying star was reborn for a brief time. During the red giant stage, right above the core are layers of oxygen and carbon, then helium above that, and a very thin shell of hydrogen above that. The heat from below causes the hydrogen to fuse at a furious rate, creating more helium that drops down (helium is heavier than hydrogen, so it sinks). If enough helium builds up, it fuses into carbon and oxygen, but this creates a vast amount of energy very rapidly. It’s nearly an explosion, but astronomers (who love to use dull terminology to describe soul-shaking events) call this a very late thermal pulse.Thermal pulses usually occur several times in the star’s life while the outer layers are still being ejected. But this one happens pretty late, when the layers are already essentially gone. This blows out the remaining gas around the core, creating those tendrils near the star, and the gas is moving so rapidly that when it slams into the gas around it the shock waves generate X-rays (there’s probably magnetism involved too, because there always is, and it complicates things immensely).Since fusion is what powers a star, it’s fair to say that for a moment it was reborn. But at this point it’s more like a death rattle. We’re looking at the last gasp of a dying star.Incidentally, all this activity in Abell 30 is very recent! The outer halo red giant wind has been expanding for about 12,500 years (spectra reveal the expansion velocity of the gas, and we can measure how big it is and its distance to get the age), while the inner gas is only about 850 years old! Given that the star was billions of years old before it started dying, we really are seeing the last sliver of its life.

Abell 30 • A Reborn Planetary Nebula67.9 Hours of Integration TimeBortle Dark-Sky Scale: 8.00Imaging telescopes or lenses: Explore Scientific ED165CF FPL-53

Imaging cameras: ZWO ASI1600MM-PRO

Mounts: Astro-Physics Mach 1 GTO

Guiding telescopes or lenses: Orion 80mm Short Tube

Guiding cameras: Starlight Xpress Lodestar x2

Software: Photoshop CC  ·  PHD2  ·  Sequence Generator Pro  ·  PixInsight

Filters: Astronomik Deep-Sky B  ·  Astronomik Deep-Sky G  ·  Astronomik Deep-Sky R  ·  Astronomik Ha 6nm 1.25''  ·  Astrodon OIII 3nm

Accessory: ZWO 8x 1.25" Filter Wheel (EFW)  ·  QHYCCD PoleMaster  ·  Hotech 2" SCA Self-Centering Field Flattener  ·  MoonLite CFL 2.5" Large Format Focuser

Dates:March 6, 2021 ,  March 20, 2021 ,  April 2, 2021 ,  April 3, 2021

Frames:Astrodon OIII 3nm: 1905x120" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1Astronomik Deep-Sky B: 60x60" (gain: 0.00) -20C bin 1x1Astronomik Deep-Sky G: 59x60" (gain: 0.00) -20C bin 1x1Astronomik Deep-Sky R: 59x60" (gain: 0.00) -20C bin 1x1Astronomik Ha 6nm 1.25'': 42x120" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1

Integration: 67.9 hours

Copyright: Douglas J Struble