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Messier 37 and the planetary nebula PNG 177.5+03

Messier 37 and the planetary nebula PNG 177.5+03

Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello

 

J2000 05 52 17.760 +32 32 42.00 FoV: 60x60 arcmin

 

The open cluster Messier 37 in Auriga hosts a large and evolved planetary nebula, named PN IPHASX J055226.2+323724, discovered and classified by L. Sabin (2008) from IPHAS images.

Located 4500 light-years away and extending for 13, with an estimated age of 500 million years, M37 was discovered by Giovanni Battista Hodierna before 1654. It contains about 500 stars, some of which have evolved to the red giant stage.

IPHASX J055226.2+323724 (PNG 177.5+03 / HASH ID 31188) certainly represents the evolution of one of them that occurred about 80 thousand years ago (Vasiliki Fragkou et al 2022 ApJL 935 L35).

 

This image is a stack of data collected in the last three years taken with 127ED f/9.

The reference study is here: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ac88c1

 

 

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Uploaded on October 2, 2024
Taken on October 2, 2024