This planetary nebula is located 6500 light years away in the constellation of Canis Minor at a declination of +2 degrees. It is a magnitude 16.5 PN which spans 1 arc-minute in our apparent view, corresponding to a diameter of 2 light years.
This object is the 20th entry in the Abell Catalog of Planetary Nebulae. Not to be confused with the Abell Galaxy Cluster Catalog, this PN catalog was created in 1966 by George Abell. It consists of 86 total entries, although only 79 of these entries are now believed to be planetary nebulae. I have imaged about 60 so far in my
Abell PN Collection.
I find this to be one of the most beautiful PN. The nebula is almost perfectly circular, comprised mainly of OIII with a strong rim around the circumference. The progenitor star is a perfect match, centered exactly and beaming a bright blue.
The spherical nature of this PN may be due to the progenitor being a single star and not the usual binary. My collection of other PN that I suspect to be spherical in nature, and developed by a single star, are shown in my
Astrobin Spherical PN Collection.
Comments