SH2-174 - A planetary nebula in Cepheus (Almos Balasi)

SH2-174 - A planetary nebula in Cepheus

SH2-174 is a planetary nebula difficult to image, because it has only 14,74 magnitude. It is located in the constellation Cepheus at a distance of 980 light-years. Sh2-174 is one of the oldest planetary nebulae that is more unusual because the white dwarf is not in the center of the nebula. This asymmetry probably is due to the interaction of the planetary nebula with the surrounding interstellar medium.

The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer because they are unrelated to planets. A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. The core of the star remains and is called a white dwarf. Usually the white dwarf can be found very near the center of the planetary nebula. All planetary nebulae form at the end of the life of a star of intermediate mass, about 1-8 solar masses. It is expected that the Sun will form also a planetary nebula at the end of its life cycle. Planetary nebulae probably play a crucial role in the chemical evolution of the Milky Way by expelling elements into the interstellar medium from stars where those elements were created.
Starting from the 1990s, Hubble Space Telescope images revealed that many planetary nebulae have extremely complex and varied morphologies. About one-fifth are roughly spherical, but the majority are not spherically symmetric. The mechanisms that produce such a wide variety of shapes and features are not yet well understood, but binary central stars, stellar winds and magnetic fields may play a role.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5638544
PixInsight job	Z6LDJ74321XA5NAD5QXPWJ9ML8OZCH0L
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	23h46m02s.14
RA (top/left)	23h33m50s.98
RA (top/right)	23h27m24s.84
RA (bottom/right)	23h55m54s.68
RA (bottom/left)	00h07m46s.20

Dec (center)	+80°56′06″.10
Dec (top/left)	+81°53′39″.7
Dec (top/right)	+80°11′53″.9
Dec (bottom/right)	+79°57′21″.1
Dec (bottom/left)	+81°36′12″.10

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