Fetus Nebula (NGC 7008)
Object Description
Nebula NGC 7008 was discovered by Wilhelm Herschel on 14 October 1787. [196] The American astronomer Francis G. Pease recognized its nature as a planetary nebula in 1917, the shed shell of a red giant that has used up all its hydrogen and has evolved into a white dwarf in the final stage. [141] The apparent magnitudes of the nebula measured with different filters are: R 13.2 mag, J 11.8 mag, H 11.5 mag, K 11.4 mag. The distance from Earth is 869 parsecs, around 2800 light years. [145]
South of NGC 7008 is another binary star system. The main star HD 235422 of spectral type K7 has an apparent visual magnitude of 9.5 mag and its companion HJ 1606 appears 11.6 mag bright. The two 18.7 arc seconds separated stars are at a distance of 469 parsecs, about 1500 light-years and are therefore unrelated to the planetary nebula. [145]
| Designations | PN G093.4+05.4: NGC 7008, PK 93+05.2, ARO 39, VV 258, VV' 540 |
| Right Ascension (J2000.0) | 21h 00m 33s |
| Declination (J2000.0) | +54° 32' 29" |
| Dimensions | 86." (optical), 95." (radio) |
| Distance | 1.3 kpc |
| Radial Velocity | -74.2 km/s ± 2.0 km/s |
| Expansion Velocity | 40.0 km/s (O-III) |
| C-Star Designations | AG82 417, CSI +54 -20591, GCRV 13203, PLX 5049 |
| C-Star Magnitude | 12.99 mag (U filter), 13.75 mag (B filter), 13.23 mag (V filter) |
| C-Star Spectral Type | O7, O(H) |
| Discoverer | PEASE 1917 |
Finder Chart
The planetary nebula NGC 7008 is located in the constellation Cygnus. The best observing time is April to November, when the PN is highest in the night sky.
