NGC 5189

NGC 5189

NGC 5189 is 3000 light years away towards the constellation of Musca.
NGC 5189 is a very unusual Planetary nebula. When a star like our Sun is dying, it will cast off its outer layers, usually into a simple overall shape. Sometimes this shape is a sphere, sometimes a double lobe, and sometimes a ring or a helix. In the case of NGC 5189, besides having an overall “Z” shape no simple structure has emerged.
Studies have indicated the existence of multiple epochs of material outflow, including a recent one that created a bright but distorted torus running horizontally across image center. The hypothesis is that the dying star is part of a binary star system with a precessing symmetry axis. NGC 5189 spans about three light years.

Imaged in SHO Narrowband on my Planewave CDK 700 at Observatorio El Sauce, Obstech, Chile.

Image acquisition and processing: Mike Selby