Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  PK116+08.1
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M 2-55 and it's elusive fragmented bow-shock front, Peter Goodhew
Powered byPixInsight

M 2-55 and it's elusive fragmented bow-shock front

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M 2-55 and it's elusive fragmented bow-shock front, Peter Goodhew
Powered byPixInsight

M 2-55 and it's elusive fragmented bow-shock front

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

M 2-55 is an evolved rarely-imaged planetary nebula in the constellation Cepheus.  It was first discovered and identified by the German-American astronomer Rudolph Minkowski on photographic plates at Mount Wilson in 1947. The plates were taken by W.C. Miller with a 10" f/5.2 refractor.
M 2-55 possesses two sets of bipolar lobes.
It was only in 2020 that a team of Chinese professional astronomers detected an arc of material running from the SE to the SSW. (Chih-Hao Hsia et. al, March 13th 2020, “Discovery of Extended Structures around Two Evolved Planetary Nebulae M 2-55 and Abell 2”). They concluded that this arc was furnishing strong evidence for an interaction of the expanding nebula of \m 2-55 with its surrounding interstellar material. The presence of fragmentation in the arc may be the result of a phenomenon known as Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instabilities.
I became aware of this thanks to Astroian's deep image.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

M 2-55 and it's elusive fragmented bow-shock front, Peter Goodhew