Little Ghost Nebula
A faint, round planetary nebula in Ophiuchus.
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The Little Ghost Nebula, also known as NGC 6369, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Ophiuchus. It is notable for its round, planet-shaped appearance and relatively faint glow, with a main ring structure about one light-year across. The nebula's light is emitted when high-energy radiation from its central white dwarf excites surrounding atoms of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, producing blue, green, and red colors respectively.
Quick Facts
- Designation
- NGC 6369
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Discoverer
- William Herschel
- Discovery year
- 1784
- Central star spectral type
- [WO3]
- Main ring diameter
- about one light-year
Facts from the source article.
Background
The Little Ghost Nebula was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. It is described as round and planet-shaped, and relatively faint.
The nebula's central star is a white dwarf with a spectral type of [WO3], indicating a spectrum similar to an oxygen-rich Wolf–Rayet star. An analysis of Gaia data suggests that the central star may be a binary system, though it was monitored by the Kepler space telescope and found not to be variable. The nebula's main ring structure is about a light-year across, and its glow comes from ionized oxygen (blue), hydrogen (green), and nitrogen (red).
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Little Ghost Nebula (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the , each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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