This object is a magnitude 15.5 planetary nebula located 8400 light years away in the constellation of Aquila at a declination of -6 degrees. The bright region of this nebula spans 45 arc-seconds in our apparent view, which corresponds to the typical PN diameter of 2 light years.
I love this complex object. Moving out from the center, I see at least 5 distinct regions:
- A tiny cleared out area immediately surrounding the bluish 14th magnitude Wolf-Rayet central star, which is bright and clearly visible.
- A bright central region with similar strength of OIII and HII, crossed by filaments. This region is so bright that it could be imaged in RGB alone without narrowband.
- HII ansae extending from each of the left and right bi-polar outflows.
- A beautiful blue OIII halo, likely spherical. The surface of this halo has some texture to it.
- Extended asymmetric OIII and HII emissions to the upper left and lower right, the likes of which I haven't seen before. I assume that these are associated with the PN, but perhaps not.
The August 2018 edition of Sky & Telescope described this nebula as a "highly structured, multiple-shell planetary with a bipolar outflow".
This object's nicknames, associated with its visual look through the eyepiece, include the Dandelion Puff Ball and the Glowing Eye Nebula.
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