Bow-Tie Nebula

NGC-40 (Bow-Tie Nebula) imaged by National Aeronautics Space Administration

New General Catalogue-40

     NGC-40 is a planetary nebula which was first discovered by famous astronomer William Herschel , during his observation into the dark sky on 25th November 1788. It was also called as Bow-Tie Nebula. He argued that the planetary nebula is composed of a dying star surrounded by hot gases. The star had already ejected its outer gas layer and the smaller star remains with a surface temperature of 50,000 degree Celsius. The temperature of the surrounding gases is about 10,000 degree Celsius which was heated by the radiation emitted from the star. Its width is about approx. 1 light year and it lie at a distance of 3500 light years away from our earth. Scientists predict that the star will fade away by leaving a small white dwarf after 30,000 years. The size of the white dwarf is equal to the size of the earth.

     This nebula is too far and it cannot be seen through our naked eye. It can be seen using extremely large telescopes and it can be located in the constellation of Cepheus. Its sister designations were Bow-Tie Nebula and Caldwell-2 as mentioned in SIMBAD Astronomical Database.

NGC-40 imaged by Hubble Space Telescope

More Information:

• Original full size image of NGC-40
• Bow-Tie Nebula - Wikipedia
• Download original 400x400 Hubble image of Planetary nebula NGC-40
• Chandra X-ray Observatory image of Bow-Tie Nebula