Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Gemini (Gem)  ·  Contains:  PGC 1420191  ·  PGC 1420816  ·  PGC 1421175  ·  PGC 1421568  ·  PGC 1422135  ·  PGC 1422206  ·  PGC 1425279  ·  PGC 1426182  ·  PGC 1432041  ·  PGC 1435465  ·  PGC 1435525  ·  PGC 1435645  ·  PGC 1435767  ·  PGC 1436375  ·  PK205+14.1  ·  Sh2-274
Abell21 Medusa Nebula (Sh2-274) HOO, Jerry Macon
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Abell21 Medusa Nebula (Sh2-274) HOO

Abell21 Medusa Nebula (Sh2-274) HOO, Jerry Macon
Powered byPixInsight

Abell21 Medusa Nebula (Sh2-274) HOO

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Description

The Medusa Nebula is a large planetary nebula in the constellation of Gemini on the Canis Minor border. It also known as Abell 21 and Sharpless 2-274. It was originally discovered in 1955 by UCLA astronomer George O. Abell, who classified it as an old planetary nebula. The braided serpentine filaments of glowing gas suggests the serpent hair of Medusa found in ancient Greek mythology.

Until the early 1970s, the Medusa 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 big, its surface brightness is very low, with surface magnitudes of between +15.99 and +25 reported. Because of this most websites recommend at least an 8-inch (200 mm) telescope with an [O III] filter to find this object although probably possible to image with smaller apertures.

(Wikipedia)

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Abell21 Medusa Nebula (Sh2-274) HOO, Jerry Macon

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Abell Planetary Nebula