NGC 6804 -- Planetary Nebula in Aquila
The Little Annulus
NGC 6804 is intriguing at high power. At low or medium magnification little or no details
could be made out with the small refractor. This Planetary Nebula appeared far smaller (8
arcseconds) than its stated apparent size (50 arcseconds) because only the inter-ring could
be made out while the outer section of the nebula remained beyond my reach. I never could
tease any color from this small Planetary Nebula. I used an Oxygen III filter mainly to locate
NGC 6804 from the surrounding star field. It also helped a bit on seeing the annulus at high
power, but it was really not necessary.
The more accepted common names for NGC 6804 include the Snowball Nebula and the
Incredible Shrinking Nebula. Stephen O’Meara in his book “The Secret Deep” referred to
it as “… lipstick marks on a mirror”. However, you may wish to describe this Planetary
Nebula, it will not disappoint. Remember that high power is the observing key to
NGC 6804.
could be made out with the small refractor. This Planetary Nebula appeared far smaller (8
arcseconds) than its stated apparent size (50 arcseconds) because only the inter-ring could
be made out while the outer section of the nebula remained beyond my reach. I never could
tease any color from this small Planetary Nebula. I used an Oxygen III filter mainly to locate
NGC 6804 from the surrounding star field. It also helped a bit on seeing the annulus at high
power, but it was really not necessary.
The more accepted common names for NGC 6804 include the Snowball Nebula and the
Incredible Shrinking Nebula. Stephen O’Meara in his book “The Secret Deep” referred to
it as “… lipstick marks on a mirror”. However, you may wish to describe this Planetary
Nebula, it will not disappoint. Remember that high power is the observing key to
NGC 6804.