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Catalogue and alternative designations Shapley 3, ESO 229-6, PK 342-14.1

 
Type Planetary nebula 
Position  18 07 16, -51 01 10
Constellation Ara
Camera and Telescope STXL16200 and 36.8cm Ritchey Chretien
Focal Ratio F9
Exposure Details LRGB colorised with Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen III.  Luminance = 100 minutes, R=G=B=20 minutes. Hydrogen Alpha = 210 minutes, OIII = 330 minutes with Astrodon series 2 filters.  Luminance unbinned, colours binned 2x2
Description Shapley 3 is one of the three planetary nebulae in the Shapley catalogue.  It has a photographic magnitude of 11.9 and is given as 35 arcseconds in diameter although more recent information now gives the following sizes:

Central shell: 1 arcminute

Halo: 1.5 arcminutes

Possible bipolar outflow has a length of 2 arcminutes

The possible bipolar outflow associated with this planetary nebula was discovered by the Galactic Planetary Nebula Halo Survey (GPNHS) team using this image in June 2017.