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Posted: **Tue Aug 22, 2023 4:07 am**

The Pistachio Nebula

Explanation: This nebula had never been noted before. Newly discovered nebulas are usually angularly small and found by professionals using large telescopes. In contrast, the Pistachio Nebula was discovered by dedicated amateurs and, although faint, is nearly the size of the full Moon. In modern times, amateurs with even small telescopes can create long exposures over sky areas much larger than most professional telescopes can see. They can therefore discover both previously unknown areas of extended emission around known objects, as well as entirely unknown objects, like nebulas. The pictured Pistachio Nebula is shown in oxygen emission (blue) and hydrogen emission (red). The nature of the hot central star is currently unknown, and the nebula might be labeled a planetary nebula if it turns out to be a white dwarf star. The featured image is a composite of over 70 hours of exposure taken in early June under the dark skies of Namibia.

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Posted: **Tue Aug 22, 2023 5:06 am**

: The Pistachio Nebula. Credit & Copyright: Bray Falls & Chester Hall-Fernandez

It's a nice image, to be sure! But a pistachio nebula?

: Pistachio nuts. Image credit: valentinarr/Getty images/Stockphoto

To resemble a pistachio, maybe the OIII emission from this nebula, which is this color: ███, should have been mapped as green, like this, ███, rather than as blue, ███, the way it is mapped in the APOD?

Anyway, an unknown nebula.

APOD Robot wrote:

The pictured Pistachio Nebula is shown in oxygen emission (blue) and hydrogen emission (red). The nature of the hot central star is currently unknown, and the nebula might be labeled a planetary nebula if it turns out to be a white dwarf star.

Right. The Pistachio Nebula might be labeled a planetary nebula if the central star turns out to be a white dwarf star. Well, that reminds me of nebula Ou4, where the jury is still out on the nature of this thing:

: Ou4, or the Squid Nebula. Credit: Yannick Akar.

Like the Pistachio Nebula, Ou4 or the Squid Nebula also glows in OIII. Is the central star inside Ou4 a white dwarf? Yes, says Astrodrudis:

Astrodrudis wrote:

Outters 4 (Ou4) is a very faint planetary nebula located in the constellation Cepheus.

No, says NASA:

Though apparently completely surrounded by the reddish hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and nature of the Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, a more recent investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, Ou4 would represent a spectacular outflow driven by HR8119, a triple system of hot, massive stars seen near the center of the nebula. The truly giant Squid Nebula would physically be nearly 50 light-years across.

So according to NASA, HR 8119 is probably a massive fusion-driven star rather than a white-hot cinder of a dead star surrounded by its own death shroud, a planetary nebula.

What says Gaia, our best tool for measuring distances to stars? Unfortunately, Gaia says nothing!

It apparently hasn't measured the distance to HR 8119! How incredibly disappointing and frustrating!

I would so much love to know the nature of Ou4! But I would certainly like to know the nature of the Pistachio Nebula, too.

Ann

Posted: **Tue Aug 22, 2023 9:29 am**

Heyo, Chester Hall-Fernandez here.

Thanks for the APOD guys!

Just thought id pop in an explain our reasoning behind the name lol. We picked it because it Somewhat looks like a pistachio. The image is a false-ish HOO colour image. We tried to think of a better name for it, but it's extremely amorphous and the 'blob' nebula seemed like a cop-out.

Posted: **Tue Aug 22, 2023 10:19 am**

70 hours of exposure. That's dedication (and a steady tripod).

Posted: **Tue Aug 22, 2023 12:57 pm**

Congratulations to Bray Falls & Chester Hall-Fernandez to an incredible discovery.

Posted: **Tue Aug 22, 2023 6:38 pm**

Yea, the name needs work.

So, how far away is this nebula? Also, it's hard to believe that at "nearly the size of the full moon", it was just discovered. A full moon is "only" 1/(360x360) = 1/129,600 of the entire sky! But I guess the dimness of many things - like this new nebula - prevent discovery since imaging every one of those 1/130000 small areas of the sky for 70 hours each is no small task.

Posted: **Tue Aug 22, 2023 7:20 pm**

I always liked pistachios;

I wonder what caused this cloud!

doggy says; what are you looking at!

Posted: **Sun Aug 27, 2023 10:30 pm**

Bray Falls is a legend, love that guy! Really wish there would be an OIII survey of the whole sky.

Hopefully StDrFal 1 will come in the future......

Also I feel that the description should have mentioned the "official" catalogue name, which is FalFer 1.

This discovery is also included in the HASH PN database.

Posted: **Mon Aug 28, 2023 12:58 pm**

starsurfer wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 10:30 pm Bray Falls is a legend, love that guy! Really wish there would be an OIII survey of the whole sky.

Hopefully StDrFal 1 will come in the future......

Also I feel that the description should have mentioned the "official" catalogue name, which is FalFer 1.

This discovery is also included in the HASH PN database.

I'm surprised we don't have an APOD yet for the "Kyber Crystal Nebula", aka Fal1, also discovered by Bray Falls - https://www.instagram.com/p/Couxx1lJrux/?img_index=1

NEW DISCOVERY: Fal1 - The Kyber Crystal Nebula. Finally after months of pointing my telescope at random spots in the sky, I have found something! This is Fal1, a truly remarkable discovery in the constellation Monoceros. It’s origins are perplexing, here are some ideas as to what caused it:

Usually with a planetary nebula you want to find a white dwarf in the center of your object. Working with marcel drechsler and Xavier strottner we couldn’t find one that made sense to explain this object as a classic planetary nebula. These usually form when a star sheds its outer layers near its death, leaving behind a white dwarf at its heart.

Instead we found a hot subdwarf type star that is so hot that it is likely ionizing the surrounding material, but we can’t be for sure!

Either way this nebula has never before been seen, and this is the only photograph of it in existence. Let me tell you about how it was named, the technical name for the object is Fal1 coming from my last name; and the colloquial name “Kyber Crystal” comes from the crystal that is inside a Jedi’s light saber. The lobes of the outer shell of the nebula looked like terminated crystals to me, so that is the name I chose! Like I mentioned early the discover happened purely by chance, as I’ve been losing my mind pointing my telescope at random spots looking for new things.

The total exposure time is 80hrs for this image. This final photo is HaOiiiRGB, didn’t use any Sii data on it.

I hope you all enjoy, and prints of this image are up on my website!

Here it is with the moon for a size comparison:

Posted: **Mon Aug 28, 2023 1:46 pm**

johnnydeep wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 12:58 pm
starsurfer wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 10:30 pm Bray Falls is a legend, love that guy! Really wish there would be an OIII survey of the whole sky.

Hopefully StDrFal 1 will come in the future......

Also I feel that the description should have mentioned the "official" catalogue name, which is FalFer 1.

This discovery is also included in the HASH PN database.
I'm surprised we don't have an APOD yet for the "Kyber Crystal Nebula", aka Fal1, also discovered by Bray Falls - https://www.instagram.com/p/Couxx1lJrux/?img_index=1

NEW DISCOVERY: Fal1 - The Kyber Crystal Nebula. Finally after months of pointing my telescope at random spots in the sky, I have found something! This is Fal1, a truly remarkable discovery in the constellation Monoceros. It’s origins are perplexing, here are some ideas as to what caused it:

Usually with a planetary nebula you want to find a white dwarf in the center of your object. Working with marcel drechsler and Xavier strottner we couldn’t find one that made sense to explain this object as a classic planetary nebula. These usually form when a star sheds its outer layers near its death, leaving behind a white dwarf at its heart.

Instead we found a hot subdwarf type star that is so hot that it is likely ionizing the surrounding material, but we can’t be for sure!

Either way this nebula has never before been seen, and this is the only photograph of it in existence. Let me tell you about how it was named, the technical name for the object is Fal1 coming from my last name; and the colloquial name “Kyber Crystal” comes from the crystal that is inside a Jedi’s light saber. The lobes of the outer shell of the nebula looked like terminated crystals to me, so that is the name I chose! Like I mentioned early the discover happened purely by chance, as I’ve been losing my mind pointing my telescope at random spots looking for new things.

The total exposure time is 80hrs for this image. This final photo is HaOiiiRGB, didn’t use any Sii data on it.

I hope you all enjoy, and prints of this image are up on my website!
Here it is with the moon for a size comparison:

Fal1 - the Kyber crystal nebula.jpg

I was thinking the exact same thing earlier today!

Starship Asterisk*

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Re: APOD: The Pistachio Nebula (2023 Aug 22)

Re: APOD: The Pistachio Nebula (2023 Aug 22)

Re: APOD: The Pistachio Nebula (2023 Aug 22)

Re: APOD: The Pistachio Nebula (2023 Aug 22)

Re: APOD: The Pistachio Nebula (2023 Aug 22)

Re: APOD: The Pistachio Nebula (2023 Aug 22)

Re: APOD: The Pistachio Nebula (2023 Aug 22)