Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cancer (Cnc)
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Abell31, cropped, Esa Viitala
Abell31, cropped
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Abell31, cropped

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Abell31, cropped, Esa Viitala
Abell31, cropped
Powered byPixInsight

Abell31, cropped

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Description

Abell 31 (or Sh2-290) is an old planetary nebula in the constellation of Cancer. It's quite a dim fog. The estimated distance is 2000 light years. The star in its center is a so-called White Dwarf. 

Abell 31 mainly contains hydrogen and oxygen. The nebula has a blueish central region (oxygen), which is the bulk of the nebula, and a red ring (hydrogen). Due to its age, the nebula's gas has mostly escaped into the interstellar medium.

This was imaged in Feb, 2024 when the weather wasn't very good. I planned to get more data later on but it didn't happen. At least this season.

IC523 which is shown in the annotated version, is about 410 Mly away. That’s a long way from us.

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Abell31, cropped, Esa Viitala