Kronberger 61 and Planetary Nebulae

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SUMMARY

Matthias Kronberger discovered the soccer-ball nebula, designated Kronberger 61, in January 2011 by analyzing digitized sky survey photos from the 1980s. Following his discovery, the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii captured a detailed color-composite image of this nearly perfectly round nebula, located approximately 13,000 light-years away in the Cygnus constellation. Kronberger 61 stands out among the 3,000 known planetary nebulae due to its unique shape, sparking significant interest in the formation processes of planetary nebulae within the astrophysics community.

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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/07/110726-soccer-ball-nebula-space-science-stars/
Amateur astronomer Matthias Kronberger discovered the soccer-ball nebula, called Kronberger 61, in January 2011 after poring over digitized photos of sky surveys from the 1980s. After he alerted professional astronomers, the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii zoomed in on the region to create the new, color-composite image.

Kronberger 61 lies roughly 13,000 light-years away in the Cygnus constellation and is almost perfectly round—an oddity when compared with the other 3,000 or so planetary nebulae already discovered.

. . . .
Apparently the formation of planetary nebulae is a hot topic in astrophysics.

See also - http://www.gemini.edu/node/11656
 
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:biggrin: That is cool.