Riccardo Maffioli from Albizzate, Varese, Italy
The Soap Bubble Nebula (PN G75.5+1.7 or PN Ju 1), a little-studied planetary nebula in Cygnus near the better-known Crescent Nebula, is the shell cast off by a dying Sun-like star. Its near-perfect sphere, roughly 4′ across was only discovered in 2008; its faintness and position against other emission makes it a challenging target. The astroimager took 22.9 hours of exposure in light-pollution-reduction and dual-narrowband Hα/OIII filters with a 6-inch f/6.1 Ritchey-Chrétien astrograph.