Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Gemini (Gem)  ·  Contains:  PK205+14.1  ·  Sh2-274
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Abell 21 - Medusa Nebula, Massimo Di Fusco
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Abell 21 - Medusa Nebula

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Abell 21 - Medusa Nebula, Massimo Di Fusco
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Abell 21 - Medusa Nebula

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Description

The Medusa Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Gemini and it is also known as Abell 21 or Sharpless 2-274. It was originally discovered in 1955 by astronomer George O. Abell, who classified it as an old planetary nebula. Until the early 1970s, the nebula was thought to be a supernova remnant. With the computation of expansion velocities and the thermal character of the radio emission, Soviet astronomers in 1971 concluded that it was most likely a planetary nebula. As the nebula is so large, its surface brightness is very low, with surface magnitudes of between +15.99 and +25.00 reported.

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