It's astounding to think that life wouldn't be possible without the elements that planetary nebulae distribute throughout the interstellar medium. These beautiful and mysterious objects not only foretell our future, but are an essential component of the process that led to our very existence. two or three dark patches. Noted planetary nebula observer Kent Wallace describes the inner dark patches as making an S shape. The nickname Little Gem, also coined by Mallas, rightly belongs to this object although some references apply the name to NGC 6445. According to Wallace, this was originally due to an error in the Sky Catalogue 2000.0 that was repeated often enough to have permeated through the amateur community. Planetary nebulae are important laboratories for the study of stellar evolution, which only enhances their interest. It's astounding to think that life wouldn't be possible without the elements that planetary nebulae distribute throughout the interstellar medium. And it may be that in observing planetaries, we're witnessing the end state of our Sun. It's currently not entirely clear whether or not our Sun will ever become a visible planetary nebula. Recent research suggests that binary interactions may be required to produce the sort of bright complex objects like those on our tour. In any case, the demise of our Sun will be similar, even if less spectacular. N ¢ Contributing Editor TED FORTE enjoys observing planetary nebulae from his home observatory in southeastern Arizona. He is the coordinator of the Astronomical League's Planetary Nebula Program. p LITTLE GEM This Hubble image of NGC 6818 clearly shows how mass loss from dying stars is an uneven process. Head over to Sagittarius to take a peek at this jewel of a planetary nebula. FURTHER READING: See the August 2018 issue of Sky & Telescope for two articles on planetary nebulae: Ted Forte's "Aquila's Gems" and Howard Banich's "The Riddle of the Nebulae." Favorite Planetary Nebulae Object NGC 6543 Nickname Cat's Eye Nebula Draco Mag(v) 8.1 Size 20″ Central Star Mag(v) RA Dec. 11.1 17h 58.6m 14.3m +46° 17′ +66° 38′ NGC 7048 Cygnus 12.1 61″ 19.1 21h NGC 7008 Cygnus 10.7 86″ 13.2 21h 00.6m +54° 33′ Cygnus 8.8 36″ 10.4 19h 44.8m +50° 32′ NGC 6826 Blinking Planetary NGC 7026 Cheeseburger Nebula Cygnus 10.9 45″ 14.2 21h NGC 7027 Green Rectangle Cygnus 8.5 55″ 16.2 21h 07.0m +42° 14′ Cygnus 9.6 7″ 11.3 19h 34.8m +30° 31′ NGC 6842 Vulpecula 13.1 57″ 15.9 19h 55.0m +29° 17′ NGC 6879 Sagitta 12.5 9″ 14.8 20 h 10.4m +16° 55′ Campbell's Hydrogen Star IC 4997 ESA / HUBBLE / N ASA / JUDY SCHMIDT Constellation NGC 6905 Blue Flash Nebula NGC 6781 06.3m +47° 51′ Sagitta 10.5 3″ 14.4 20h 20.1m Delphinus 11.1 72″ 15.7 20h 22.4m +20° 06′ +16° 44′ Aquila 11.4 114″ 16.7 19h 18.5m +06° 32′ NGC 7009 Saturn Nebula Aquarius 8.0 35″ 11.5 21h 04.2m NGC 7293 Helix Nebula Aquarius 7.3 1054″ 13.5 22h 29.6m -20° 50′ -11° 22′ NGC 6818 Little Gem Sagittarius 9.3 46″ 16.9 19h 44.0m -14° 09′ Sizes are from recent catalogs. Visually, an object's size is often smaller than the cataloged value and varies according to the aperture and magnification of the viewing instrument. Right ascension and declination are for equinox 2000.0. sk yandtele scope.com * S E P TE M B E R 2 019 35http://www.skyandtelescope.com