This object, also known as PK 197-6.1, is an ancient, dim, huge planetary nebula located only 1900 light years away in the constellation of Orion at a declination of +11 degrees. It spans 20 arc-minutes in our apparent view. This corresponds to a diameter of 11 light years, much larger than the typical PN diameter of 2 light years.
This PN is one of the largest in the sky. It was discovered in 1983 in
this paper. Although today we refer to this PN as WeDe 1, the paper announces it as WDHS 1, since its discoverers were Weinberger, Dengel, Hartl and Sabbadin. I am not sure what led to the last 2 gentlemen being dropped off of the name in today's references.
The PN is a typical elliptical shape. The distinct ring has been impacted by the ISM and has dissipated at the bottom. The progenitor star (WD 0556+106) is visible as the characteristic small cyan star indicated in the mouseover. This star is magnitude 17.
My collection of ancient PN is shown
here.
I took OIII subs to complete the narrowband result but no OIII is present here. Background HII is seen throughout the image, especially on the right side.
The open star cluster NGC 2141 is seen on the left side of the image. It is 10x further away from us than the PN, at 17000 light years.
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