Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Camelopardalis (Cam)

Image of the day 01/09/2020

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EGB 4 (Ellis-Grayson-Bond 4), Peter Goodhew
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EGB 4 (Ellis-Grayson-Bond 4)

Image of the day 01/09/2020

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
EGB 4 (Ellis-Grayson-Bond 4), Peter Goodhew
Powered byPixInsight

EGB 4 (Ellis-Grayson-Bond 4)

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Description

EGB 4 (a nebula discovered by Ellis, Grayson, & Bond in 1984) is NOT a comet, despite it's comet-like appearance. It is an emission nebula surrounding a catacylismic binary star system called BZ Cam in the constellation of Camelopardis.

It has an unusual bow-shock structure as BZ Cam (with it's associated wind) moves through the interstellar medium, similar to the bow wave in front of a ship that is moving through water.

BZ Cam is believed to be a white dwarf star that is accreting mass from an accompanying main-sequence star of 0.3-0.4 solar masses.

It is around 2,500 light years away, and has a space velocity of 125 km/second.

I can only find one previous image of EGB 4 online, a NASA APOD from 2000, so I believe this could be the first amateur image and the first colour image.

Yes it's ridiculously faint!

References:

apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap001128.html

THE ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL, 115:286-295, 1998 January © 1998. The American Astronomical Society.

aanda.org/articles/aa/full/2001/36/aa1385/aa1385.right.html

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    EGB 4 (Ellis-Grayson-Bond 4), Peter Goodhew
    Original
    EGB 4 (Ellis-Grayson-Bond 4), Peter Goodhew
    B
  • Final
    EGB 4 (Ellis-Grayson-Bond 4), Peter Goodhew
    C

B

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EGB 4 (Ellis-Grayson-Bond 4), Peter Goodhew