NGC 3242
British Astronomical Association Picture Of The Week 19 March 2021
Published in the May 2021 issue of Astronomy Now Magazine
Most images of NGC 3242 - The Ghost Of Jupiter - are just of the bright core.
However there's plenty of interesting, but faint, nebulosity around it. The relationship between NGC 3242 and this nebulosity is unclear.
TARGET
Nomenclature: NGC 3242, Ghost Of Jupiter
Right Ascension: 10:24:46.1
Declination:  -18:38:32.24
Size: 31.5 arc sec (inner core)
Discovery: William Herschel on February 7, 1785
EQUIPMENT USED
Twin APM TMB LZOS 152 refractors
10Micron GM2000 HPS mount
Twin QSI6120 CCD cameras
Astrodon filters
IMAGE CAPTURE
Blue: 27x300"
Green: 29x300"
Lum: 30x300"
Red: 29x300"
OIII: 152x300" bin 1x1
Ha: 105x300" bin 1x1, 38x900" bin 1x1
Total Integration: 40.5 hours
Pixel scale: 0.534 arcsec/pixel
Field radius: 0.361 degrees
Capture dates: 6 January -  9 March 2021
Capture location:  Fregenal de la Sierra, Spain

IMAGE PROCESSING
Pre-processing: CCDStack2
Post-processing: Photoshop CS2
OIII image
Ha image