NGC 7354 is a magnitude 12.9 planetary nebula in Cepheus that is often overlooked. It is located about 4200 light-years away. NGC 7354 is 23 arc-seconds in diameter. The central star is a dim magnitude 16.2. This object appears in an 8-inch amateur telescope as a diffuse ball with little or no discrenable surface detail, and as a round smoke ring with a small hole when viewed with a modest-size amateur telescope. In an 18-inch telescope, some darkening in the center can be detected, and the disk appears knotty. In a 25-inch telescope, the central star may be glimpsed. Nevertheless, this planetary nebula is relatively bright and holds up to magnification very well. It is obviously non-stellar under high magnification even in a small amateur telescope.
This is an RGB composite CCD image taken with an SBIG STL-11000M. The image was taken from Mount Lemmon, using a 24-inch RCOS telescope that was operated by Adam Block. The image was taken during a CCD Processing Workshop led by Adam, in which he taught advanced image processing techniques. Adam Block is a very effective teacher, and I used the image processing methods that Adam taught during the CCD Processing Workshop to process this image. Adam Block also conducted nightly observing programs at the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter run by the University of Arizona. I highly recommend the University of Arizona public outreach programs at the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter.
NGC 7354
Constellation: Cepheus
RA: 22h 40m 20s Dec: +61d 17' 10" (J2000)
August 24, 2008
Image by Sid Leach and Adam Block
Mt. Lemmon, Arizona
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