Imaging Planetary Nebulae

Summary

This is a straightforward project to image a number of planetary nebulae in colour. Despite the name, a planetary nebula has nothing to do with planets. It is the shell of brightly glowing gas that is left, expanding out into space, when an average sized star runs out of nuclear fuel and loses its outer layers. Many planetary nebulae are extremely beautiful objects.

Students can make basic measurements of their planetary nebulae using a simple spreadsheet based measuring tool, the Jpeg Viewer.