Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Pisces (Psc)  ·  Contains:  PK125-47.1
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PHL 932 Stromgren Sphere, Gary Imm
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PHL 932 Stromgren Sphere

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PHL 932 Stromgren Sphere, Gary Imm
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PHL 932 Stromgren Sphere

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Description

This Astrobin Debut Object is a faint emission nebula located 1000 light years away in the constellation of Pisces at a declination of +16 degrees. The nebula spans 6 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to a width of 2 light years.

PHL 932 is the 12th magnitude blue star at the center of the image. 12 years ago, the red nebula surrounding this star was believed to be a planetary nebula. The 2009 paper, “PHL 932: when is a planetary nebula not a planetary nebula?”, by Frew, Madsen, O’Toole and Parker, concluded that this object is not a PN. Instead, it is a Stromgren sphere, a region of ionized hydrogen (HII) surrounding a hot young star.  
The Rosette Nebula is the most famous example of a Stromgren sphere.

Looking at this object in my image, I think it is fairly obvious that this object is not a PN. The object is not symmetric in any direction, nor does it have any semblance to a circular shape. The ionizing star is much too bright to be a typical PN central star. So, I think the Australian scientists got this one right.

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