What Are Planetary Nebulae?
Planetary Nebulae (PNe) are among the most magnificent, interesting and challenging objects for amateur observers. Often simply referred to as planetaries, they are visually small gaseous nebulae, appearing as circular, ring-like or oval-shaped patches of gossamer light. Photographically, the brighter PNe’s are distinctly pleasing to the eye and quite colourful. All planetaries are found scattered equally throughout both hemispheres of the sky, but are primarily concentrated along the celestial pathway of the Milky Way. Some also congregate towards the galactic centre in Sagittarius. Planetaries often have the appearance of bubbles in space, smoke-rings, symmetrical disks or strange mirrored shapes oriented along one axis in space. A few appear simply as irregular amorphous masses of light. Others show stellar or disklike appearances, being similar in size to of the outer planets such as Uranus and Neptune – with the similarity even extending to having a bluish or greenish colouration.
