Planetary Nebula K 4-55

K 4-55 is a planetary nebula between the North American/Pelican Nebula complex and Deneb. I couldn't find a distance for it. It is a very red ring with an outlying spiral nebula like structure. The red color is due to ionized Nitrogen (NII) rather than Hydrogen alpha. A picture from the HST is available at http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0921a/ . For this false color image red comes from NII, green from H alpha and blue from ionized oxygen (OIII). You can read more about this nebula at the HST link.

I tried several times to get H alpha/NII light (my filter picks up both) on three different nights. All suffered from very poor transparency. I did get a bit of data the third try which I added into the red channel of this image but it really made virtually no difference. Also seeing was lousy as well so I didn't get the resolution I wanted. This is another to revisit if I ever get a better night. I picked up no sign of the central star that causes the gasses to glow but then neither did the HST.

14" LX200R @ f/10, Pseudo L=Ha2x30'+L=4x10' R=80%+Ha+R2x10' G=2x10' B=20%Ha=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick