NGC 6886 is a

planetary nebula A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer because they are unrelated to planets. The ...

in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Sagitta Sagitta is a dim but distinctive constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'arrow', not to be confused with the significantly larger constellation Sagittarius 'the archer'. It was included among the 48 constellations listed by t ...

. It was discovered by

Ralph Copeland Ralph Copeland FRSE FRAS (3 September 1837 – 27 October 1905) was an English astronomer and the third Astronomer Royal for Scotland. Life Copeland was born at Moorside Farm, near Woodplumpton in Lancashire, England the son of Robert Cope ...

on September 17, 1884. It is distant from Earth, and is composed of a hot central post-AGB star that has 55% of the Sun's mass yet 2700 ± 850 its luminosity, with a surface temperature of 142,000 K. The planetary nebula is thought to have been expanding for between 1280 and 1600 years.

References

External links

* Planetary nebulae Sagitta 6886 Astronomical objects discovered in 1884 {{nebula-stub