09 Feb 2026
Abell 33, the Diamond Ring Nebula, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Hydra. Planetary nebulas are remnants of a star at the end of it's life. A star similar to our Sun. It blows off it's outer shells forming the nebula. The core of the star collapses to form a dense hot white dwarf. The radiation from the white dwarf excites the gas in the nebula causing it to glow. (NASA Science)
The three bright stars in the image are foreground stars. The small star at the center of the nebula is the white dwarf. The cyan color is from ionized Oxygen (OIII).
Image processed by Andrew Macica, original data from Telescope Live.
Imaging Details:
Observatory: Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile
Telescope: Planewave CDK24
Aperture: 610 mm (24 inches), f/6.5
Focal Length: 3962 mm
Camera: QHY 600M Pro CMOS
Filters: LRGB, OIII
Total Exposure: 8 hours 0 min.
Image Processing:
PixInsight 1.8.9-3 Ripley (x64);
BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, StarXTerminator (RC Astro);
Python 3.9;
Adobe Photoshop 25.12.1;
Adobe Lightroom Classic 14.2
Instruction on PixInsight from Adam Block Studios.
PK 238+34.1
6 credit
Filtro | Exp. media (s) | Esposizione totale | Sottoframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luminance | 300 | 2h10m | 26 |
| Red | 300 | 2h10m | 26 |
| Green | 300 | 2h10m | 26 |
| Blue | 300 | 2h10m | 26 |