ic 1295, ngc 6712, and PN G025,3-4.6 in Scutum - RGB + O-III -- 100% view
click the image for a cropped 200% pixel view of only ic 1295, ic1295levy200x.htmlor HERE to return to the index page

 Chasing the obscure seems to have worked again.  I haven't seen many images of this pair, and none of the trio.  Ic 1295 is a beautiful planetary with a double shell located near the loose globular ngc 6712 in Scutum.  The planetary has a magnitude of 11 to 15, but is not firmly quoted in my references.  
A surprise came when aligning the OIII layer with the RGB using "difference" blending: a tiny green spot appeared near 1295 that had a central star (only in the negative combination)... the OIII image is sharper than the RGB so the ring disappears in the combination, but the green color is vivid.  The only info I could find other than the NED ID of *PN G025.3-04.6* suggested a magnitude of 5.5 or so, which looks visually about correct.  At my focal length, it is only slightly beyond stellar in size.  The cluster, ngc 6712,  is mostly older, metal-rich stars so it is a bit golden, nice in the crowded field of Scutum... ic 1295 is all but invisible in the RGB frames, but really responds to the O-III filter..


 Telescope Explore Scientific David H. Levy Comet Hunter Maksutov-Newtonian 152mm f/4.8 mounted piggyback on Meade LX 200 Classic 12 inch
Camera Canon XT/350d modified with Baader type 1 filter by Hap Griffin
Exposure  48 three-minute sub-exposures at iso 800 with 6 ten-minute subs in O-III. total of 108 minutes.
 Guiding  PHD Guide from Stark labs with Meade DSI pro I on Meade 12-inch LX 200 Classic at f/3.3
 Software  Images acquired, calibrated, stacked and color corrected with Nebulosity 2.2.4 from Stark Labs. Further processing in Photoshop CS 3.
on-line links to more information    nothing substantial, google will give some...

September 15th, 16th, 17th , and 18th 2010 - Julian CA