Right ascension 19 21 38.936 | Declination +38° 18′ 57.2420″ | |
Designations Kronberger 61, Soccer Ball Nebula | ||
Kronberger 61, also known as the "soccer ball", is a Nebula discovered by an amateur astronomer in January, 2011, with the newer images having been taken by the Gemini Observatory. The nebula is named for Austrian Mattias Kronberger, who is a member of the amateur group Deep Sky Hunters. The object is estimated to lie 13,000 light-years away. They discovered the nebula while searching near the northern constellation of Cygnus. It is hoped that the discovery will help resolve a decades-old debate, regarding the role of stellar companions in the formation and structure of planetary nebulae.
The nebula is within a relatively small area, which is currently being monitored by NASA’s Kepler planet finding mission and the light of the nebula is primarily due to the emissions from doubly ionized oxygen.