Blue Racquetball (NGC 6572)

NGC 6572
NGC 6572: Image taken with Hubble Space Telescope. © ESA/Hubble & NASA [534]

History

This plantetary nebula was discovered on 18th July 1825 by the German born astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve using the 9.6 inch f/17.8 Fraunhofer refractor at Dorpat Observatory in Russua (today called Tartu in Estonia). [274]

Physical Properties

NGC 6572 is a pretty young planetary nebula, estimated only a few thousand years old. As a result the glowing gas is still quite concentrated, which explains why it is abnormally bright. It expands at a speed of around 15 km/s. [534] The distance is estimated to 1736 pc. [145]

«Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae» Acker et al., 1992 [141]
Designations PN G034.6+11.8: NGC 6572, PK 34+11.1, ARO 7, VV 159, VV' 370
Right Ascension (J2000.0) 18h 12m 07s
Declination (J2000.0) +06° 51' 25"
Dimensions 10.8" (optical), 8." (radio)
Distance 0.42 kpc
Radial Velocity -8.5 ± 0.4 km/s
Expansion Velocity 16.0 (O-III) 16. (N-II) km/s
C-Star Designations AG +6 2201, AG82 296, BD +06 3649, EM* CDS 964, GCRV 10650, HD 166802, PLX 4174
C-Star Magnitude B: 13.10
C-Star Spectral Type Of/WR(H)
Discoverer STRUVE 1825

Finder Chart

The planetary nebula NGC 6572 can be found in the constellation Ophiuchus. The best time for observation is March through August.

Finder Chart Blue Racquetball (NGC 6572)
Blue Racquetball (NGC 6572) in constellation Ophiuchus. 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]

More Objects Nearby (±15°)

References