GSC 08225-985 (J111827.8-520821) RA 11:18:11.37 DEC -52:07:12.6 (J2000). Is it a DSO?

[PMSchu]

Hi Greg,

I see what looks like a ring structure at the position of the PN in Dennis's latest images. The unknown object looks like a faint galaxy. Anyone have access to a spectrograph?

Phil S.

[Dennis]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions Phil and Greg, I appreciate them.

My Brother-in-Law is seriously ill in hospital at the moment, so I won't have the opportunity to get back to this for a few days.

Best wishes

Dennis

[PMSchu]

Hi Dennis,

Here's wishing that your Brother-in-Law comes through his illness with flying colors & has a speedy recovery.

Phil S.

[Dennis]

Thank you Phil, I appreciate your loving thoughts. Sadly, I think his time has come as he is now in Palliative Care. We were expecting this, so have been blessed with the time and resources to come to terms with the reality of his passing, which makes it more bearable than if it were sudden and unexpected.

Best Regards

Dennis

[PMSchu]

Hi Dennis,

I'm sorry to hear that. You have my sympathy.

Phil S.

[Dennis]

Hi Dennis,
Here's wishing that your Brother-in-Law comes through his illness with flying colors & has a speedy recovery.
Phil S.

Thanks Phil, I appreciate you reaching out to us.

Thanks

Dennis

[Dennis]

Dennis, 

Is the fuzzy visible in your scope or is this an imaging target only? If visible & you have a filter that will enhance the appearance of a planetary, like an OIII filter I think that might help you distinguish between a planetary & a galaxy.

Pretty long shot, but it might help.

Phil S.

Wow Phil - I hadn't realised that the camera can be removed and that you can actually look through the 'scope. LOL!

Sadly, I don't have a set of decent eyepieces or specialist Filters. At our local Astrofest there is an even spliit between eye-ballers and imagers, they congregate on separate observing fields to minimise the light spill from red-filtered computer screens etc. How astronomy has changed.

Cheers

Dennis

[PMSchu]

Hi Dennis,

Perhaps you can have someone with a large aperture scope point it at your target & see what it looks like. I'm sure if you explain what you're trying to see you'll have more help than you know what to do with. We astro nerds love a challenge  .

I don't know what eyepiece filters run these days, mine are 30 years old. That's one nice thing about astronomy, the gear lasts for years. A filter intended to work on the Helix nebula should enhance the visibility of a planetary & do nothing for a galaxy.

When's your next meet-up?

Phil S.

[Dennis]

Hi Phil

COVID is still playing havoc with meetings so not sure when I will next get to a dark sky site. But, I did rummage through my spares box and lo and behold, I found a Lumicon UHC I purchased used at a local Astrofest back in 1990's! Thanks for the suggestion.

I managed to get out tonight and grab 15 x 300 sec exposures through the UHC and although the seeing wasn't that good, the PN G288.7+08.1 showed up much more strongly as did the "mystery" object.

Cheers

Dennis

[PMSchu]

Hi Dennis,

You'd think that being outside in the dark wouldn't pose a big risk, especially among younger people. The scopes tend to socially distance by natural preference  .

Any faint galaxies in the field? Did the UHC improve the contrast for galaxies too? If not, your fuzzy could be a PN. Interesting in any case. The fuzzy is present on the red DSS plate, so it's not too recent. I saw it on the red plate, how does it look on the blue plate? Did you check?

Phil S.