Halos around planetary nebulae
Discovered 1900 visually by Barnard (first photograph 1935 by Duncan) halos represent the most faintest but the most massive part of nearly all planetary nebulae.
The faint envelopes are a result of a late evolutionary stage of a dying star between 0,6 to 10 solar masses. During this stage (late AGB) the star lost up to 70% of his mass because of thermal pulses short before the much brighter planetary nebulae began to shine
designation |
telescope (aperture), magnification, limiting magnitude, description, [sketch] |
Messier 27![]() [OIII], Steve Richards |
recombination halo
14", 100x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ 16", 129x, [OIII],
fst 7m0+ 27", 172x, [OIII], fst 6m5+ 27",
113x-172x, [OIII], fst 7m0+
27", 113x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ |
Messier 57![]() [OIII], Vicent Peris (OAUV/CAHA/PTeam) |
first halo =
recombination halo 27", 244x,
UHC, fst 7m0+ 48", 203x-488x, NPB, fst 7m0+ |
Messier 97![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
recombination halo
27", 113x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ |
NGC 40![]() Hα, Balick et al. (1992) |
27", 172x-293x, fst 7m0+ even under superb conditions nothing visible or suspected with all filter combinations |
NGC 1514![]() Hα/[OIII]/RGB, Don Goldman |
recombination halo?
27", 172x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ |
NGC 2020![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
27", 172x-293x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ difficult and very faint halo; three brightness levels; first the inner core with a bright rim and a knot to the SW; second the also bright shell with 2x diameter of the inner core; and third the very faint outer AGB halo; the halo is not steadily visible with averted vision and only popping in and out of view, a brighter knot at the SW rim (similar to the knot at the rim of the inner core) is also popping in and out; both details - halo and knot not visible at the same time; both details also visible with 172x and 293x sketch |
NGC 2438![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
first halo = recombination halo 27", 113x-172x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ even under superb conditions nothing visible or suspected with all filter combinations |
NGC 2867![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
28", 313x, [OIII], fst 7m5+ under best transparency halo even visible without filter; with [OIII] bright and direct vision, round, no bright rim sketch |
NGC 3242![]() Hα, Corradi et al. (2003) |
20", 114x-194x, [OIII] fst 7m0+ - inner halo: very faint but clearly visible with averted vision + [OIII] filter and 114x; 3x-4x diameter of the bright inner core + shell (~3' diameter); knot to the S popping in and out of view with 194x - outer halo: brightest part suspected even without filter W of the PN core; with [OIII] and 114x (4,4mm EP) easy to hold with averted vision, brightest part around 9' SW of the PN core with brighter rim to the E edge, fainter and narrower outgoing to the S; UHC with worsen reaction sketch |
NGC 3918![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
28", 195x-391x, [OIII], fst 7m5+ bright (inner) halo around very bright core; good reaction with [OIII]; halo reaches just above a double star NW, around 1' diameter; jet to the SE within the inner halo |
NGC 5882![]() [OIII], Johannes Schedler (Chart32) |
28", 260x, [OIII], fst 7m5+ PN core surrounded and attached by an direct visible 1:2 shell; brightest filamentary halo fragment 1' E of the core, steadily visible with averted vision as an 1:2 E-W glow, visible from 184x-447x, best magnification 260x + [OIII] filter ; two other smaller fragments 2' SW, each visible with averted vision for seconds as laminar glows sketch |
NGC 6309![]() [OIII] (blue), Rubio et al. (2015) |
27", 293x, [OIII], fst 6m5+ nothing visible without filter and UHC filter; [OIII] brings out a very faint round glow around very bright core; within the round glow two slightly shifted brightenings are visible, the NE one seems to be larger and longer with a not so difficult visible peak at the NE end, the SW seems to be a little bit shorter with a better defined but very unremarkable limb brightening sketch |
NGC 6369![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
16", 360x, no filter, fst 6m5+ with higher magnification a faint glow directly W of the ring is suspected sketch
27", 293x, [OIII], fst 6m5+ |
NGC 6543![]() [OIII], Ricky CN |
16", 51x-129x, [OIII], fst 6m5+ IC 4677 direct vision and easy visible as a 1:2 elongated knot; no other structure visible 27",
172x, [OIII] fst 6m5+ 48", 203x, NPB, fst 7m0+ |
NGC 6578![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
27", 293x-419x, [OIII]/UHC, fst 7m0+ beside the very bright core (~7") and the fainter shell (~13") the halo is also suspected with 419x and UHC or/and [OIII], no sure observation; whole system very small, and deep in the sky, so it needs to much magnification? sketch (with shell only) |
NGC 6629![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
27", 293x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ good defined and bright core of around 16"; around core very faint glow with around 3x diameter of the core, glow reaches from the rim of the core to half the way to a 15mag star; N side better defined; glow suspected even without filter, with [OIII] sure confirmation sketch |
NGC 6751![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
27", 293x, [OIII]/UHC, fst 7m0+ halo only suspected to the S and to the W; no sure detection, negative observation |
NGC 6772![]() H2, Fang et al. (2018) |
27", 113x-172x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ halo clearly visible as a very faint glow around the core from SE over E to N, brightest part to the E, N part very difficult and only suspected, no halo structure to the W; sure observation sketch |
NGC 6803![]() Hα/[NII], Balick et al. (1992) |
27", 293x-419x, [OIII], fst 6m5+ halo only suspected; very faint glow visible at 419x, but unsure if halo or overexposure of the very bright PN core |
NGC 6826![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
18", 105x - 199x, [OIII], fst 5m5+ even under bright background sky and soso transparency (milky way barely visible) halo clearly detectable; with 105x small but steadily visible (averted vision), faint and round glow around bright PN shell, around four times the diameter of the inner shell, somewhat fainter but large enough with 199x, no details or structure visible
27", 172x, [OIII], fst 6m5+ |
NGC 6852![]() Hα/[OIII]/RGB, Johannes Schedler (Chart32) |
27", 293x, [OIII], fst 6m5+ halo visible as a very faint extension from the core to the NW; difficult but sure observation; other extensions not visible sketch |
NGC 6884![]() Hα, Corradi et al. (2003) |
27", 172x, [OIII], fst 6m5+ halo visible as a very faint, round glow with 4mm EP and [OIII] only; not visible with higher magnifications; around 1,2' diameter; somewhat brighter within the glow at the SW side; no rim brightening sketch |
NGC 6891![]() Hα, Guerrero et al. (2000) |
27", 172x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ with low magnification core and shell merges as one inner and bright detail and are not separately visible; much fainter halo suspected with 113x and [OIII] and better visible with 172x; round with 3x-4x of the diameter of the shell (around 1,2'); S side (filling) a little bit better defined sketch |
NGC 6894![]() LRGB/Hα/[OIII], Bernhard Hubl |
27", 293x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ bright core somewhat fringed to the SW but no second shell or round glow around the core; negative observation |
NGC 7009![]() Hα, Corradi et al. (2003) |
27", 172x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ even without any filter bright round glow around very briht green core; [OIII] filters brings our the halo even brighter, direct vision glow of around 4' diameter, brighter regions to the S and NE, appears somewhat scabby without showing individual spots sketch |
NGC 7027![]() Ralf Burkart |
16", 180x, [OIII], fst 6m5+ halo noticeable around the very bright core sketch
18",
199x, [OIII], fst 5m5+
27", 293x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ |
NGC 7048![]() LRGB/Hα/[OIII], Bernhard Hubl |
27", 172x, UHC, fst 7m0+ under very good transparency N extension up to a 13mag star only suspected with UHC; very difficult and not steadily visible; [OIII] negative results; S and W halo sides not visible |
NGC 7293![]() Hα/[NII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
27", 113x-172x, UHC, fst 7m0+ even under perfect conditions (47°N) of an high alpine location brightest halo arc only suspected; strong contrast effect of the bright rim of the core makes it nearly impossible to decide whether glow is the halo arc or only a contrast phenomenon; within a small triangle of 15mag stars 11' NE of the center a faint glow suspected; three observer also only suspected extremely faint glow and were not sure of a positive observation |
NGC 7662![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
14", 100x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ halo easy visible with averted vision as a round glow with good defined edges of around 2' diameter
27", 172x, [OIII], fst 6m5+ |
IC 418![]() WISE (IR), Ramos-Larios et al. (2012) |
27", 172x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ halo already visible as a faint glow around the bright shell with searching eyepiece at 113x without filter and is still visible up to 293x; best view with [OIII] and 172x at 4mm EP; halo visible as a bright and round glow with 2' diameter; diffuse edges with concentration towards the PN; somewhat brighter to the NE side; steadily visible with averted vision sketch
36", 165x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ |
IC 1454 (Abell 81)![]() Hα/[NII], Balick et al. (1992) |
27", 172x, [OIII], fst 7m0+ halo only suspected, no sure observation |
IC 1747![]() Hα/[NII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
27", 113x-172x, fst 7m0+ halo definitely not visible or suspected with all filter combinations |
IC 2165![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
27", 172x-293x, fst 7m0+ very faint but sure visible; round glow touches 15mag star 0,5' SE, so its diameter is around 1'; seems to be two-stage, an inner, somewhat brighter glow of around 0,5' diameter around the very small ring core and the mentioned 1' outer glow; W side of the glow somewhat better defined and visible sketch |
IC 2448![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
28", 312x, [OIII], fst 7m5+ faint glow steadily visible with averted vision; round and diffse, no sharp edges sketch |
IC 4593![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
27", 586x, fst 7m0+ halo fragment on the W side visible with high magnification and without filter, no difficult detection; faint extension to the S only suspected, no sure observation sketch |
IC 4997![]() V, Bond [HST] |
27", 293x-837x, fst 6m5+ brighter halo even without filter around very bright inner core; overexposure?
27", 1172x, fst 7m0+ |
Abell 30![]() [OIII]/Hα, Ian Smith |
PN without shell and shell-like core
16", 51x, [OIII],
NELM 6m5 27", 172x, [OIII],
NELM
6m5+, Seeing IV |
Abell 39![]() Hα/[OIII]/RGB, Don Goldman |
PN without shell and shell-like core
4", 31x, [OIII],
NELM
6m2
4" Binocular Telescope, 23x, [OIII], NELM 6m5+
16", 129x, [OIII], NELM 6m5+
20", 121x, [OIII], NELM 6m3
27", 113x-172x, [OIII],
NELM 6m5+ |
Cannon 1-5![]() [OIII], Corradi et al. (2003) |
28", 312x-843x, [OIII], fst 7m5+ faint but steadily visible halo with [OIII] and averted vision around very bright core; small, round, ~0,5' diameter halo with better defined N side sketch |