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Arcturus is a prominent K-type giant star located in the constellation Boötes. It’s notable for being the brightest star visible in the northern sky and situated relatively close to our solar system at approximately 37 light-years away. Astronomers and amateur stargazers find it particularly useful...
The Blue Snowball Nebula, designated as NGC 7662, is a bright and compact planetary nebula located in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It was discovered by the astronomer William Herschel in 1784. The nebula is notable for its nearly circular disk and its vivid blue-green color, which is eas...
NGC 1491 is an emission nebula and H II region in the constellation Perseus, also catalogued as Sharpless 2-206. Its visible glow comes from hydrogen gas ionized by energetic ultraviolet radiation from a hot star associated with the region. Dense dust and gas along one side form a prominent bright r...
A planetary nebula in Taurus discovered by William Herschel in 1790, historically significant as one of the first nebulae confirmed to physically surround a star.
A bipolar planetary nebula in Gemini discovered by William Herschel in 1785, with two lobes sometimes catalogued separately as NGC 2371 and NGC 2372.
A planetary nebula in Cepheus discovered by William Herschel in 1788, notable for its bilobed shape and a central white dwarf with a surface temperature of approximately 50,000 K.
A compact planetary nebula in Hercules notable for its bright central star and small angular size that produces a distinctive white-eyed appearance in images.
A planetary nebula in Delphinus roughly 7,500 light-years away, with a near-circular ionized shell and a hot central white dwarf responsible for its characteristic blue-tinted glow.
A compact planetary nebula in Hercules nicknamed the White-Eyed Pea, featuring a small bright blue-white disk and one of the hotter known central stars among nearby planetary nebulae.
A bipolar planetary nebula in Cygnus roughly 6,000 light-years away, with two lobes flanking a dense equatorial waist that produces the distinctly layered, stacked appearance behind its nickname.
A planetary nebula in Cygnus about 2,800 light-years away, notable for its irregular asymmetric shape whose outline in astronomical images is widely said to resemble a developing fetus.
A massive star-forming complex in the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way, one of the most productive and thoroughly studied regions of high-mass star formation in the outer Galaxy.
A compact, nearly spherical planetary nebula in Camelopardalis about 4,500 light-years away, notable for its simple symmetric concentric shell structure and conspicuous bright central star.
A ring-shaped planetary nebula in Aquila discovered by William Herschel in 1791, featuring a bright annular shell surrounded by a faint extended outer halo.
A compact planetary nebula in Cygnus so small angularly that it resembles a stellar point source in modest telescopes, requiring spectroscopy to confirm its nature.
Bipolar planetary nebula catalogued by astronomer Rudolph Minkowski, displaying a classic hourglass-shaped morphology produced by asymmetric stellar winds from its evolved central star.
The first entry in Sidney van den Bergh's 1966 Catalog of Reflection Nebulae, a blue reflection nebula in Cassiopeia illuminated by the hot star BD+57°174.
A faint, low-surface-brightness planetary nebula in Cassiopeia with a roughly circular morphology, located several thousand light-years from the solar system and requiring deep exposures to image.
A planetary nebula in Cepheus notable for its nearly circular multi-shell structure and bright inner disk, situated roughly 3,300 light-years from Earth.
A planetary nebula in Cassiopeia with an annular morphology catalogued in the Index Catalogue, lying several thousand light-years distant and exhibiting a moderately hot central star.
A faint, low-surface-brightness planetary nebula in Cepheus with a roughly circular shape, lying approximately 3,300 light-years from the Sun.
A small, high-surface-brightness planetary nebula in Sagitta with a compact disk morphology, lying approximately 6,000 light-years from Earth and visible in modest telescopes.
A nearly circular, high-surface-brightness planetary nebula in Perseus, making it a useful spectroscopic calibration target despite its modest apparent size.
A multi-shell planetary nebula catalogued by Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek, whose concentric shells record successive mass-loss episodes from its progenitor star.
