Object of the Week June 14th, 2015 - NGC6804

NGC 6804
PK 45-4.1

Aquila

RA 19 31 35.2
DEC 09 13 31

Type: Planetary Nebula
Size: 35"

Magnitude: 12.2
Central Star Mag: 14.3

Discovered by William Herschel on August 25th, 1791 and then later confirmed as a planetary by Francis Pease in 1917, NGC 6804 is a fairly faint planetary nebula in the constellation Aquila. Lying approximately 4900 light years away, 6804 has a physical size of about 1.3 light years across. Easily located, NGC 6804 lies only 5 degrees west of Altair.

Visually at lower powers, NGC6804 is rather small, faint round object with not much detail. Filters such as the UHC or NPB and magnification will improve contrast and bring out some of its fainter details helping give up its elongation along an ENE-WSW direction. In my 25" at 350x I can make out two lobes on either side of the darker central region with the ENE almost appearing triangular. These lobes are orientated along the same direction as the nebula's overall elongation with a 14th mag star imbedded in the northeastern lobe. Unfortunately, my notes do not make mention of the central star. You can attribute that to my poor note taking!

So if you're looking for an interesting planetary this summer, please remember:

"Give it a go and let us know!
Good luck and great viewing!"

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Copyright 2007 Jim Soloman