NGC 1514 - The Crystal Ball Nebula
Originally published in Astronomy Now Magazine February 2019
Featured in The Journal of The British Astronomical Association, December 2020
Revised February 2023
NGC 1514 is a planetary nebula in the constellation Taurus. It is also known as the Chrystal Ball Nebula. It is 1520 light years from Earth. The nebula originated from a binary star system with the designation HD 281679 from the Henry Draper Catalogue. The bright, visible component is a giant star, while the nebula-generating companion is now a hot, sub-luminous O-type star. The two have one of the longest known orbits for any planetary nebula, with a period of about 9 years.
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TARGET
Nomenclature:  NGC 1514, Crystall Ball Nebula
Right Ascension: 04:09:16.984
Declination: +30:46:33.47
Size: 3 arc min including outer plumes
Discovery: William Herschel on November 13, 1790

EQUIPMENT USED
Twin APM TMB LZOS 152 refractors
10Micron GM2000 HPS mount
Twin QSI6120 CCD cameras
Astrodon filters
IMAGE CAPTURE
5nm Ha: 21x1800 bin 1x1
3nm OIII: 117x600 bin 1x1
Red: 20x300 bin 1x1
Green: 20x300 bin 1x1
Blue: 20x300 bin 1x1
Total integration: 35 hours
Pixel scale: 0.265 arcsec/pixel
Field radius: 0.227 degrees
Capture dates: 1-7 February 2023
Capture location:  Fregenal de la Sierra, Spain
IMAGE PROCESSING
Pre-processing: CCDStack2
Post-processing: Photoshop CS2