This is one of the most famous bipolar planetary nebulae and I am surprised it hasn't been OOTW yet. The white dwarf at the center of the nebula, which was only discovered in 2009, is one of the hottest stars in the Milky Way with a surface temperature exceeding 250,000 K. It has a mass of 0.64 solar masses and is surrounded by a particularly dense equatorial disk composed of gas and dust. The current theory is that this disk has caused the outflow of the star to form the bipolar structure similar to an hour-glass. This bipolar structure is one of the most complex seen in any planetary nebula and shows many of the interesting structures seen in planetary nebulae such as ionization walls, knots and sharp edges to the lobes.
When the Hubble Space Telescope celebrated its 25th birthday, it took this picture of the Bug Nebula
Visually the nebula is very appealing. My notes with my 20" from July 9, 2015, read
At 151x this nebula already is seen easily as an elongated spot with a bright central part. Both OIII and UHC boost the visibility of the nebula with the effect of OIII the largest. The central part is elliptical and is inclined with respect to the rest of the nebula. Both ends show a lot of streamers. Unfortunately the low altitude above the horizon implies bad seeing so probably many of the details are lost.
I am curious who managed to see more details, especially from northern latitudes.
As always,
"Give it a go and let us know!
Good luck and great viewing!"
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