This object, nicknamed the Oyster Nebula, is a tiny planetary nebula located 5700 light years away in the constellation of Camelopardalis at a declination of +61 degrees. This PN spans 1 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to a actual diameter of 2 light years. This bright PN has a magnitude of 10.6.
Clearly seen inside of the nebula is the magnitude 14.5 central star, which I assume is supposed to represent the "pearl" of the oyster. This central star is a bright hot Wolf-Rayet star, which is a star that loses mass at a very high rate and which is highly luminous. Studies of the star indicate that it is pulsating in brightness, which is unusual for the progenitor star of a planetary nebula.
The nebula is 4 times larger in diameter than the famous Ring Nebula, although it appears much smaller to us (less than one minute in diameter) because it is much further away.
It is amazing to me how planetary nebulae can vary so much in their inner structure. The tight web-like pattern of the filaments throughout this planetary nebula is unusual but not rare. Similar structures are seen in PN such as M27 and NGC 6905. My Astrobin collection of filamentary PN is
here.
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