Key facts
- Right ascension
- 03 33 14.646
- Declination
- −25 ° 52 ′ 18.214 ″
- Distance
- 1,145 ly (351 pc ) , 1,794 ly (550 pc ) ly
- Apparent dimensions v
- 11.0 × 7.5 arcmin
- Constellation
- Fornax
- Notable features
- 11.4v magnitude central star
- Designations
- PK220-53.1, ESO 482-PN007, AM 0331-260, GC 5315, PN G220.3-53.9, CD-26 1339
via Wikipedia infobox
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
NGC 1360, also known as the Robin's Egg Nebula, is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Fornax. It was identified as a planetary nebula due to its strong radiation in the OIII (oxygen) bands. Reddish matter, believed to have been ejected from the original star before its final collapse, is visible in images. It is slightly fainter than IC 2003.
The central star of the system was suspected to be binary since 1977, but was only confirmed in 2017. The central source consists of a low-mass O-type star and a white dwarf, with masses of 0.555 M☉ and 0.679 M☉ respectively.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “NGC 1360” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.