Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

But this one was an easy one to make.

Reader(s) of the last episode will remember (or just scroll back to the last entry) that I had just imaged 52 Herschel objects. Since that time, I've also imaged 8 Messier objects in roughly the same area of the sky. The decision was to not post all the images, since they are what I'm calling survey images (meaning I'm looking for particularly interesting objects, so I'm surveying what's out there to come back to to make longer exposures and in color). Fifty-two images would take up a lot of internet bandwidth, so I think I will post only the more interesting ones. This might be another to come back to at a later date (probably next year).

M46 and NGC2438

This is M46, an open cluster in the constellation of Puppis (the stern or poop deck of a ship, or so I'm told). The interesting part of this is the planetary nebula that is found in it. The nebula is known as NGC2438, which just happens to be on the Herschel list I'm imaging. So, in this case, I get a two-fer; an M and a NGC object in the same image. M46 is about 5500 light years distant. NGC2438 is the gaseous shroud cast off by a dying star (which is pretty much what all planetary nebulae are) and lies about 3000 light years away.