Object of the Season (Spring 2019)

Planetary Nebula NGC 6781 in Aquila

This annular planetary was discovered on 30 July 1788 by William Herschel. The central star is of 15th magnitude.

NGC 6781 in Aquila - Credit European Southern Observatory (ESO)
NGC 6781 photographed by the ESO 3.6-m Telescope, using the Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (EFOSC2), at the La Silla Observatory in the Atacama Desert, Chile - European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Name
NGC 6781
Position (2000)
19 18 28.3 +06 32 25 (Aql)
Type
planetary nebula
Magnitude
11.4
Size
1.9'
Distance
5000 ly
Other Designations
III 743, h 2037, GC 4487, PK 41-2.1

Results of the observations of NGC 6781 will be published in DSO 183.

Wolfgang Steinicke - Nebulae and Clusters Section Director