A Gray circle marks the size of the full Moon. (~30' or 0,5 degrees)



I made this poster to show the relative sizes of the nebulae.

All Planetary Nebulae in this image are in same scale. Each individual image covers an area of 20' horizontally. (~0,3 degrees) and

they are in "natural" colors, mixed from the narrowband channels. By a following method:

Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements, R=80%Hydrogen+20%Sulfur, G=100%Oxygen and B=85%Oxygen+15%Hydrogen to compensate otherwise missing H-beta emission. This composition is very close to a visual spectrum.



All of images are Planetary Nebulae.

Planetary nebulae are shells of gas, shed by stars late in their life cycles after using up all of their nuclear fuel. The gas is illuminated and ionized by its extremely hot central star, a core left from the original star.

Our own star, the Sun, is expected to undergo the same process in a couple of billion years.



Images, from top Left to a bottom Right

Large images and the technical data behind links



M27, the "Dumbbell Nebula":

http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2011/02/m27-dumbbell-nebula-reprocessed.html



M76, the "Little Dumbbell Nebula":

http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2010/11/m-76-little-dumbbell-nebula.html



PK 164+31.1, Jones-Emberson 1:

http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2010/02/planetary-nebula-pk-164311-finalized.html



M57, the "Ring Nebula":

http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2010/10/m57-ring-nebula-project-finalized.html



Sh2-188:

http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2010/11/sh2-188-project-finalized.html



NGC 6543, the "Cat's Eye Nebula":

http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2011/01/cats-eye-nebula-reprocessed.html



Sh2-274, the "Medusa Nebula":

http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2011/02/medusa-nebula-sh2-271-project-finalized.html



Jones 1:

http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2010/11/jones-1-extreme-dim-planetary-nebula.html



NGC 6302, the "Bug Nebula":

http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2010/07/ngc-6302-bug-nebula.html