Sh2-224 An Asymmetrical Bipolar Planetary Nebula (Alex Woronow)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Auriga (Aur) · Contains: LBN 769 · PGC 168843 · PGC 168845 · PGC 168847 · PGC 168851 · PGC 168852 · PGC 168854 · PGC 168857 · PGC 168862 · PGC 168865 · PGC 168868 · PGC 168869 · PGC 17221 · PGC 2816483 · PGC 97089 · PGC 97090 · PGC 97101 · Sh2-224

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Sh2-224 An Asymmetrical Bipolar Planetary Nebula

Powered byPixInsight

Sh2-224 An Asymmetrical Bipolar Planetary Nebula

Sh2-224: An Asymmetrical Bipolar Planetary Nebula

OTA: RH305
Camera: SBIG STX-16803 CCD
Observatory: Deep Sky West

Exposures:
R: 11 x 600 sec
G: 12 x 600
B: 12 x 600
H: 21 x 1200 sec
O: 22 x 1200
S: 18 x 1200
Total Exposure time used: 23.75 hours
Image Radius: 74.6 arc minutes

Processing: PixInsight, Topaz Studio2, custom scripts for image weighting and star replacement
(down-sampled 2x for publication)

Sh20-24, a planetary nebula, has an unusual shape. While definitely a "bipolar" planetary nebula, it certainly has more significant asymmetry than most bipolar planetary nebulae. As I interpreted this 2D image, one lobe comes toward us and a bit toward our right. That lobe has a bubble shape. Consequently, the opposite lobe must move away from us and toward our left. It has a flying-saucer shape; very strange!

Of the two geometries of the two lobes, the receding one looms the most unusual and, consequently, begs for an explanation. Of course, the explanations could be many. Among them are that the birth explosion for the right hand lobe was of limited areal extent, and the gasses moved out more or less symmetrically. The left hand lobe may have arisen from a more complex explosion geometry. Another possibility could be that the parent star was moving rapidly toward the upper left and through a relatively stationary interstellar cloud at the time of the explosions. The trailing lobe developed without much interference from the interstellar cloud, while the leading lobe hit the cloud, disrupting and dispersing its outward flow. –of course, speculation seldom has limits to its absurdity. So, without more evidence than an image, my speculations qualify as being as absurd as they are likely to be valid.

Alex Woronow

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	8114901
PixInsight job	LOV11R6HLL1RYEE6S6QRD0JKUZGWNNXZ
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	05h27m15s.96
RA (top/left)	05h22m25s.10
RA (top/right)	05h32m22s.10
RA (bottom/right)	05h32m16s.12
RA (bottom/left)	05h22m01s.68

Dec (center)	+42°58′18″.7
Dec (top/left)	+42°02′33″.3
Dec (top/right)	+42°05′15″.5
Dec (bottom/right)	+43°53′19″.6
Dec (bottom/left)	+43°50′30″.5

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Sh2-224 An Asymmetrical Bipolar Planetary Nebula

Sh2-224 An Asymmetrical Bipolar Planetary Nebula

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