NGC 246 (Gary Imm)

NGC 246

This object, nicknamed the Skull Nebula, is a planetary nebula located 1600 light years away in the constellation of Cetus at a declination of -12 degrees. Its diameter is estimated to be 2.5 light years. The nebula is dominated by oxygen gas, as seen in the bluish-green sections of the nebula which are especially strong around the perimeter. The central portion of the nebula is dominated by reddish hydrogen gas.

The nebula appears to be translucent is certain areas, creating the "skull" effect. Scientists don't understand the exact mechanism for the development of this structure, but it is likely due to the expelled nebula gas colliding with different densities of the surrounding interstellar space.

The central bright bluish progenitor star is clearly visible. It appears to be a double star in my image (discovered in 1965 by Rudolph Minkowski), but recent work has also identified a faint 3rd companion so this is actually a triple star. I find it amazing that in a relatively short span of time this central dwarf star has been dimming as it is dying, from 9th magnitude in the 1930s to 12th magnitude today. This star is located slightly closer to the right leading edge of the nebula than to the left trailing edge. The right leading edge is the direction towards which the star is moving. The gas front at the leading edge is brighter and thicker than that of the trailing edge.

The most interesting part of this image to me are the two small faint lobes which are sticking out of the bottom of the nebula. On the opposite (top) side there also appears to be a faint lobe. It could be that a slight bi-polar outflow from the central star is creating these lobes, but I have not read that anywhere so it is just a guess on my part.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6565296
PixInsight job	4EFY21PXLAFW4FBZ0FX5583RO31P9BN1
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	00h47m04s.139
RA (top/left)	00h47m40s.727
RA (top/right)	00h46m26s.928
RA (bottom/right)	00h46m27s.530
RA (bottom/left)	00h47m41s.444

Dec (center)	-11°52′14″.94
Dec (top/left)	-11°45′17″.51
Dec (top/right)	-11°45′30″.97
Dec (bottom/right)	-11°59′12″.23
Dec (bottom/left)	-11°58′59″.10

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