NGC 7027 [SEP] constellation
NGC 7027
NGC 7027 is a very young and dense planetary nebula located around from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. Discovered in 1878 by Édouard Stephan using the reflector at Marseille Observatory, it is one of the smallest planetary nebulae and by far the most extensively studied. Helium hydride was detected in the nebula in 2019, the first discovery of that molecule in space.
Overview.
NGC 7027 is one of the visually brightest planetary nebulae. It is about 600 years old.
It is unusually small, measuring only
atoms are being ionized.
The expanding halo of NGC 7027 has a mass of about three times the mass of the Sun, and is about 100 times more massive than the ionized central region. This mass loss in NGC 7027 provided important evidence that stars a few times more massive than the Sun can avoid being destroyed in supernova explosions.
NGC 7027 has a rich and highly ionized spectrum caused by its hot central star. The nebula is rich in carbon, and is a very interesting object for the study of carbon