This small object is a planetary nebula located in the southern constellation of Lupus at a southern declination of -44 degrees. The PN transits 15 degrees above my southern horizon. It is a magnitude 11 PN which spans 1.8 arc-minutes in our apparent view.
The reported distance of this object varies widely, from 2000 to 8500 light years. My guess is that it is at the top end of this range, which would put the torus diameter at 1.5 light years wide (a typical PN size).
This PN is nicknamed both the Box Nebula and the Retina Nebula. Its shape is more rectangular as compared to the typical round/oval PN shape.
The box shape results from our side point of view of the hollow cylinder of the bi-polar nebula, formed when hot gas flows out of each pole (left and right) of the dying star. Note that the end lobes have not broken through yet. Looking carefully at the center of the nebula, you can see the circular cross-section of the cylindrical nebula in the form of a whitish torus ring.
The central star is not visible in either my image or the Hubble mouseover image of this object.
My palette for this image is HOO while the Hubble palette is SHO.
This PN can be compared against other similar PNe in my
Bi-Polar Side-on PN Collection.
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