Planetary Nebula IC 4593

IC 4593
IC 4593: Image taken with Hubble Space Telescope. © 2007 NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) [589]

History

This planetary nebula was discovered in 1907 by Williamina Fleming. She first worked as a maid for Edward Pickering, Professor of Astronomy at Harvard and later became one of the most famous female astronomers of the 19th century. She inspected plates taken with the 8 inch f/5.5 refractor at the Harvard College Observatory. The telescope was equipped with an objective prism and the planetary nebula was identified by its spectrum. [196, 277]

Physical Properties

«Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae» Acker et al., 1992 [141]
Designations PN G025.3+40.8: IC 4593, PK 25+40.1, ARO 27, VV 79, VV' 133
Right Ascension (J2000.0) 16h 11m 44s
Declination (J2000.0) +12° 04' 27"
Dimensions 13." (optical)
Distance 0.85 kpc
Radial Velocity +22.0 ± 0.5 km/s
Expansion Velocity 12.5 (O-III) 12. (N-II) km/s
C-Star Designations AG +12 1684, AG82 199, BD +12 2966, CSV 101560, GCRV 9312, HD 145649, NSV 7526, PLX 3676, SV* ZI 1218, TD1 18957
C-Star Magnitude B: 11.05, V: 11.20
C-Star Spectral Type O5 f(H)
Discoverer FLEMING 1907

Finder Chart

The planetary nebula IC 4593 is located in the constellation Hercules. The small double star HD 145730 A/B helps as an orientation point in the large field eyepiece. The best observation time is from January to December.

Hercules: Planetary Nebula IC 4593
Finder Chart Planetary Nebula IC 4593
21:02
03:27 | 55.3°
09:53
Charts created using SkySafari 6 Pro and STScI Digitized Sky Survey. Limiting magnitudes: Constellation chart ~6.5 mag, DSS2 close-ups ~20 mag. Times are shown for timezone UTC, Latitude 46.7996°, Longitude 8.23225°, Horizon height 5°, Date 2025-03-25. [149, 160]

Visual Observation

400 mm Aperture: In the 21 mm Ethos eyepiece (85x) this small PN appears star-shaped. At higher magnification (9 mm Nagler, 200x) it reveals itself as a diffuse, bluish nebula with a central star. — 400 mm f/4.5 Taurus Dobsonian, Hasliberg, 18. 8. 2023, SQM 21.2, Bernd Nies

Objects Within a Radius of 30°

References