Kohoutek 1-14
Also known as PN G045.6+24.3, PK 045+24.1
RA 17h42m36.8s (2000)
Dec +21°27'02" (2000)
Size 47”
Mag 15.10
Mag CSPN 16.1
Whilst examining the POSS prints in 1963 Lubos Kohoutek discovered a number of new planetary nebulae and this
object in Hercules was number 14 in his first list. The objects were classified based on their shape and relative
brightness’s on the red and blue plates. K 1-14 is a rather nice ring shaped planetary nebula with limb brightening
and some internal structure. If the central star is the blue object then it is no longer in the centre of the nebula
and this could be because K 1-14 is thought to be an old planetary nebula starting to interact with the interstellar
medium as it ages. The local ISM is slowing down the expansion of the nebula but the star is not affected and is
moving away. ). K 1-14 is surprisingly bright in the GALEX ultraviolet images which suggests it may be quite a high
excitation nebeula, which would be at odds with it being old. It is thought that the central star of K 1-14 is probably
a visual binary. As perhaps suspected there is not a lot of research on K 1-14, so many PN so little time but there
are some thoughts that it may be similar to the Soccerball PN Kronenberger 61 (http://www.gemini.edu/node/11656). T
he distance to K 1-14 would appear to be of the order of 5780 pc from GAIA DR2 or 4870 from the H-Alpha method.
The central star is however relatively faint at around 16.1 so the GAIA DR 2 parallax method may have some errors in it.
K 1-14 maybe a bit of a challenge to find and although there are drawings of it with a 27” by Uwe and Kent Wallace
saw it with his 20” it was described as faint. Jack Marling apparently had the first visual observation of it with a 17.5”
from altitude. Observations suggest an OIII filter is probably best to find this object. Perhaps not surprisingly this object
is not found in the NSOG Vol 2.
k1-14_pan.jpg
As always give a go and let us know what you find.
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