SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Jon Greif
Location of Photo:
Alpine, CA, USA
Date/Time of photo:
June 23-27, 2025, between 9 and 11:30 pm PDT
Equipment:
TS-Optics 8" f/4 ONTC Newtonian Telescope, 10Micron GM1000HPS Mount, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera, ZWO RGB filters, MoonLite focuser, NINA acquisition software and Pixinsight processing software.
Description:
Abell 39 (PN A66 39) is a faint planetary nebula (a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from a red giant star late in life). It is located in the constellation Hercules, which has been almost directly overhead (which helped imaging through our smoky night sky). It is the 39th entry in George Abell's 1966 Abell Catalog of Planetary Nebulae, discovered as part of the National Geographic Society - Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. It is about 3,800 light-years from Earth . It is almost perfectly spherical and also one of the largest known spheres with a diameter of 2.8 light-years. This planetary nebula has been expanding for an estimated 11,000 years.
