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Planetary nebula

K 3-67

Planetary nebula

A shell of gas thrown off by a dying Sun-like star, glowing in the ultraviolet light of the hot core at its centre. Within a few tens of thousands of years it will disperse and fade from view. The distance is a statistical estimate, uncertain by 30–50 %.

TypePlanetary nebula
ConstellationPerseus
Distance4,170 pc (13.6 thousand ly) · estimated
Diameter0.0 ly
Central starO(C)
Expansion speed21 km/s
PN G namePN G165.5-06.5
SourceStrasbourg–ESO PN Catalogue
Right ascension (J2000)4h 39m 47.9s
Declination (J2000)+36° 45′ 43″

In the sky

Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 53° S. North of latitude 53° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in November, the best time to observe it.

Through a telescope from Earth

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out 14 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 241 million years.

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