Medusa nebula, Abell 21
The Medusa nebula, known scientifically as Abell 21, is an old planetary nebula some 1,500 light-years away in the constellation Gemini. It is estimated to be over 4 light-years across. This image was taken on Oct 24th, 2008 at the Mayall telescope with the mosaic camera, with [OIII] (assigned a blue color) and H-alpha (orange) filters This image was released during the 100 Hours of Astronomy webcast, "Around the World in 80 Telescopes" held from April 3-4, 2009, during the International Year of Astronomy 2009. View the recorded event from KPNO. See also this image of NGC 6520 from CTIO, which was also released during the webcast.
Credit:About the Image
Id: | noaoann09008a |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | April 21, 2009 |
Related announcements: | noaoann09008 |
Size: | 8333 x 8304 px |
About the Object
Name: | Medusa Nebula, Sh 2-274 |
Distance: | 1800 light years |
Constellation: | Gemini |
Category: | Nebulae |
Image Formats
Large JPEG
33.0 MB
Publication TIFF 4K
33.4 MB
Publication JPEG
3.8 MB
Screensize JPEG
285.8 KB
Wallpapers
1024x768
245.0 KB
1280x1024
360.0 KB
1600x1200
478.0 KB
1920x1200
543.2 KB
2048x1536
3.9 MB
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 7 29 3.46 |
Position (Dec): | 13° 15' 16.17" |
Field of view: | 36.03 x 35.90 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 90.1° left of vertical |
Colors & filters
Band | Wave-length | Tele-scope |
---|---|---|
Optical Olll | 499 nm | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |
Optical Ha | 656 nm | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |