NGC 6894

Click on image for larger version.


 NGC 6894 is a seemingly typical planetary nebula. It has a diffuse spherical outer shell with a more convoluted inner structure. The overall pinkish color to this nebula may be due to the reddening of light caused by intervening clouds of gas and dust in this direction. This nebula also has a unique attribute- in deep images (not shown here) this nebula may be interacting with the local interstellar medium (latent galactic gas clouds). Notice that the top left quadrant of the nebula has an oval bright area. This could be a symptom of this interaction. Futhermore, these deep images reveal that the gas released from this nebula has aligned itself with the local magnetic field of the galaxy. These observations help to probe the nature of our galaxy 4000 light years away!

Equipment

20in RC Optical Systems telescope Operating at f/8.4
Paramount ME Robotic Telescope Mount
SBIG ST10XME CCD camera with color filter wheel

R R G B color production was used to create this image.

Luminance = 75 minutes binned 1x1
 Red = 15 minutes binned 2x2
 Green = 15 minutes binned 2x2
 Blue = 15 minutes binned 2x2
  • This field is a severely reddened direction in Cygnus.
  • Color data provided by Dale Niksch (5/16/04).

    • Minimum credit line: Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

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    Updated: 5/07/2002