Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Aquila (Aql)  ·  Contains:  NGC 6781  ·  PK041-02.1
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 6781, The Ghost of the Moon, Ruben Barbosa
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 6781, The Ghost of the Moon

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 6781, The Ghost of the Moon, Ruben Barbosa
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 6781, The Ghost of the Moon

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

* Image acquisition: Liverpool Telescope

* Processing: Ruben barbosa

NGC 6781 is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Aquila.

This ring-like nebula consists of glowing gas cast off by a dying star some 3,100 light years away.

The nebula has about 2 light years and a faint magnitude 11,4.

With a 12″ telescope, the nebula looks like a ghost image of the Moon. It presents a beautiful spherical shell which brightens towards the edge and a ring around the circumference. The central star, a mid-sized star like our Sun, is throwing off the outer layers of its atmosphere in a last gasp of life.

The nebula will dissipate over the next many thousands of years, and the central star will remain as a white dwarf, a hot glowing cinder which will cool slowly over billions of years.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

NGC 6781, The Ghost of the Moon, Ruben Barbosa

In these collections

1. Nebulae