Planetary Nebula Minkowski 1-79

Minkowski 1-79: Planetary Nebula in Cygnus; 500 mm Cassegrain f=3625 mm f/7.2; SBIG STL11K; 210-90-90-90 min LRGB; Bernese Highlands; © 2015 Radek Chromik

History

The planetary nebula was discovered in 1946 by the German-American astronomer Rudolph Minkowski. He was looking for H-α emissions on the photographic plates taken with the 60 inch or 100 inch telescope on Mount Wilson. [397]

Physical Properties

M 1-79 seems to have two different axes of polar symmetry in three-dimensional space which suggests that it had not maturated in a simple way. It appears as a PN with an elliptical central part and a bipolarity in the outer regions. It shows an overall point-symmetry along the edges but not when considering details of its inner structure. There are indications that a binary central star system is responsible for this shape. Both size and the expansion velocities are not typical for bipolar PNe. Probably M 1-79 has not yet reached the phase of a «classical» bipolar PN. [503]

Simbad lists a visual magnitude of the PN with 19.11 mag, but that seems rather to be the one of the central star. SkySafari lists a visual magnitude of 13.3 mag. Distance is listed as 2652 pc. [141, 145]

«Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae» Acker et al., 1992 [141]
DesignationsPN G093.3-02.4: M 1-79, PK 93-02.1, ARO 365, VV 268, VV'555
Right Ascension (J2000.0)21h 37m 01s
Declination (J2000.0)+48° 56' 12"
Dimensions 33." (optical), 30." (radio)
Distance 2.0 kpc
Radial Velocity-24.0 km/s ± 25.0 km/s
Expansion Velocity 19.0 km/s (O-III), 23. km/s (N-II)
C-Star DesignationsAG82 435
C-Star Magnitude19.11 mag (V filter)
DiscovererMINKOWSKI 1946

Finder Chart

The planetary nebula Minkowski 1-79 is located in the constellation Cygnus. As entry point for star-hopping one can use the loose open cluster Messier 39. The best observation time is from March to December.

Chart Planetary Nebula Minkowski 1-79
Planetary Nebula Minkowski 1-79 in constellation Cygnus. 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]

Visual Observation

Description pending ...

More Objects Nearby (±15°)

References