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Planetary nebula

The Blinking Planetary

Also NGC 6826 · Caldwell 15

Open in OuranosCompare its size

A planetary nebula whose bright central star overwhelms the faint shell when looked at directly, so it seems to blink on and off.

Measured

Distance
4,228 light-years
Size
about 0.82 light-years across (approximate)
Constellation
Cygnus
Position (J2000)
RA 19h 44m 48s, Dec +50.53°

How far, from the Sun

4,230 light-years. To cross it:

  • Light4,230 years
  • Voyager 1's speed75.1 million years
  • Driving at 100 km/h45.6 billion years

Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.

Facts

  • The blinking is a trick of the eye, not of the nebula.
  • Its distance comes from a Gaia parallax: the tiny yearly shift in its position as the Earth circles the Sun.

Where this comes from

  • Gaia DR3 parallax 0.7714 ± 0.0359 mas of the central star, Gaia DR3 2135352396915239808 (Gaia Collaboration 2023, A&A 674, A1)
  • This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, CDS, Strasbourg, France (Wenger et al. 2000, A&AS 143, 9).
  • This research has made use of the VizieR catalogue access tool, CDS, Strasbourg, France (DOI: 10.26093/cds/vizier).

Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.