Antilhue - Chile

NGC 3132 - Eightburst Nebula
Home Clusters Galaxies Nebulae Solar System Bennett Catalogue Published images

 

 

Image Data

Designation NGC 3132,  Eight-Burst Nebula,  Southern Ring Nebula,  Bennett 43
Object type Planetary nebula
Coordinates 10h07min    - 40°27'
Constellation Vela  (Vel)
Description

NGC 3132 is a bright (mag 8) but small planetary nebula.  At 0.8 arcmin, its footprint is only slightly larger than Jupiter.  The prominent central star has a very close (1.6") companion - not visible here - that caused multiple outbursts and originated the intricate, somewhat concentric structure.  Hence the popular name Eight-Burst nebula.  This field is only 4 x 6 arcmins with north towards the top.

Exposure LsyntRGB 45:45:45 min @ -15°C, all unbinned 5 min exposures
Camera SBIG ST-10XE selfguided + SBIG CFW-8 with Astrodon Tru-Balance Filterset
Optics RCOS 14.5" Ritchey-Chrétien @ f/9
Mount Astro-Physics AP1200GTO
Software MaxIm DL/CCD, Sigma Pre Beta 11, Adobe Photoshop CS
Location - Date - Time San Esteban (Chile) - 13Mar2004 - 02:00 UTC 
Conditions Transparency 7,  Seeing 7, Temperature +15°C