images

Planetary nebula Abell 39

by

A.Block/MLSC/Univ.of Az/Novapix

Reference

a-nep98-02001

Date

2006-09-01

Abell 39, the 39th entry in a catalog of large nebulae discovered by George Abell in 1966, is a beautiful example of a planetary nebula. The nebula has a diameter of about five light-years, and the thickness of the spherical shell is about a third of a light-year. The nebula itself is roughly 7,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Hercules.