CTA 1, also known as SNR G119.5+10.2, is a very faint supernova remnant located 5000 light years away in the constellation of Cepheus at a declination of +73 degrees. It spans 2 degrees in our apparent view. This corresponds to a diameter of 150 light years.
In the designation, CT stands for Caltech, and the letter A indicates that this object is on the first list of radio sources published by Caltech in 1960.
Compared to
other SNR, this SNR is much fainter, larger, and more chaotic in its pattern. I am guessing that this is because of its age, estimated at 10,000 years. For example, this object is 10x older than the SNR
M1.
The bright object at lower left is NGC 40, seen best in the full resolution view. This object is also known as the Bow-Tie Nebula and Caldwell 2. This object is a small, 1 arc-minute planetary nebula located 3500 light years away and unrelated to CTA 1. It is 1.5 light years in diameter. The inner structure filamentary shape is complex and interesting. The central star is clearly visible. I took a LRGB image of this object, seen
here, with my C11 two years ago.
Comments