Planetary Nebula Abell 36

Abell 36
Abell 36: Image taken with VLT in Chile. © 2019 ESO [626]

History

The planetary nebula Abell 36 (PN A55 25, PN A66 36, PK 318+41.1) was discovered in the 1950ies by the American astronomer George Ogden Abell on the photo plates of the «Palomar Observatory Sky Survey» (POSS). In 1955 he published his first and 1966 is second list list of planetary nebulae. [331, 332]

Physical Properties

The planetary nebula is surrounded by a large, barrel-shaped very faint halo of Hα ionized gas, measuring 4° x 5° in angular diameter. The inner part of the nebula resembles a bit the helical shaped Cat's Eye Nebula NGC 6543 with two pairs of bipolar lobes. [627] The age of the nebula is estimated around 10'000 years. [626] Given distances range from 380 pc through 436 parsec. [145]

«Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae» Acker et al., 1992 [141]
Designations PN G318.4+41.4: A 36, PK 318+41.1, A55 25, ESO 577-24, VV' 116
Right Ascension (J2000.0) 13h 40m 41s
Declination (J2000.0) -19° 52' 57"
Dimensions 370." (optical), 360." (radio)
Distance 0.4 kpc
Radial Velocity +36.8 ± 3.3 km/s
Expansion Velocity 36.0 (O-III) km/s
C-Star Designations AG82 156, CSI -19 -13379, FB 138, UBV 12237
C-Star Magnitude U: 9.98, B: 11.28, V: 11.53
C-Star Spectral Type O(H)
Discoverer ABELL 1955

Finder Chart

The planetary nebula Abell 33 is in the the constellation Virgo south of Spica. The best observation time is January to June.

Finder Chart Planetary Nebula Abell 36
Planetary Nebula Abell 36 in constellation Virgo. Charts created using SkySafari 6 Pro and STScI Digitized Sky Survey. Limiting magnitudes: Constellation chart ~6.5 mag, DSS2 close-ups ~20 mag. [149, 160]

Objects Within a Radius of 25°

References