This planetary nebula was discovered in 1785 by William Herschel. It is of relatively low surface brightness. As can be seen in this image, the central star of this nebula is actually two stars close in angular separation. The central star is of magnitude 11.9. Its companion at 3.8 arcseconds distance is of magnitude 14.
The planetary nebula has an apparent diameter of 4 arcminutes. Compare this to the moon, which has an apparent diameter of 30 arcminutes. Several stars are superimposed on this nebula.
2003-10-10: 30 minute exposure through a red, green and blue filter each (3x3x600s). Camera cooled to -20°C.
No comments:
Post a Comment