(click for larger image)
| Catalogue and alternative designations | The
mask nebula
|
| Type | Planetary nebula |
| Position | 15 09 25, -55 33 04 |
| Constellation | Circinus |
| Camera and Telescope | STXL6303 and F9 36.8 cm Ritchey Chretien |
| Focal Ratio | F9 |
| Exposure Details | HaOIIILRGB image with Hydrogen Alpha = 460 minutes, Oxygen III = 270 minutes and Luminance = Red = Green = Blue = 30 minutes with all binned 1x1. Astrodon and Chroma filters |
| Description | This
is a faint planetary nebula in
Circinus. It is called the
"mask nebula" because
it resembles a ski mask. The
following description is adapted
from Don Goldman's website. Don
appears to be one of the few
people to have ever imaged this
thing.
"The Mask nebula is a bipolar planetary nebula (PN G321.6+02.2) about 6500 light years distant. It is about 8 arcminutes in length, including the bright core that looks like a ski mask, and the extensions. According to Corradi et al. ("A New, Evolved Bipolar Planetary Nebula", Astron. Astrophys., v224, 276-280, 1997), it is an evolved planetary nebula with a kinematic age of >12,000 years, very large in size at about 13 light years across, and has a very hot, yet unobserved central star that is hotter than 130,000K." |