Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Gemini (Gem)  ·  Contains:  PK205+14.1  ·  Sh2-274

Image of the day 03/13/2023

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    Closeup of Abell 21 (The Medusa Nebula) in SHO, Bruce Donzanti
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    Closeup of Abell 21 (The Medusa Nebula) in SHO

    Image of the day 03/13/2023

    Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
      Closeup of Abell 21 (The Medusa Nebula) in SHO, Bruce Donzanti
      Powered byPixInsight

      Closeup of Abell 21 (The Medusa Nebula) in SHO

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      Description

      Abell 21 (Sh2-274), informally known as the Medusa Nebula, is not the most exciting object to image, but it does have some interesting features.  I tried to get a nice closeup but several nights of high thin clouds fought me on this effort.  So, unfortunately, it did not come out as detailed and clean as I had hoped due to poor transparency.  I minimized the stars to see if that would remove some distraction while looking at the nebulosity.  This planetary nebula, reclassified as such in the 1970s, is so large, its surface brightness is very low, with surface magnitudes reported between +15.99 and +25.  The central star of the planetary nebula is a PG 1159 star.

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