🔭 M97 — Owl Nebula

Planetary nebula in Ursa Major

M97, Owl Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation Ursa Major, with an apparent magnitude of about 9.9, roughly 2.03 thousand light-years away.

Data

Catalogue designation	M97
Common name	Owl Nebula
Object type	Planetary nebula
Constellation	Ursa Major
NGC / IC	NGC 3587
Apparent magnitude	9.9
Distance (approx.)	2.03 thousand light-years

What a planetary nebula is

Not a planet at all: the glowing shell of gas a sun-like star sheds at the end of its life, its exposed hot core lighting the cast-off envelope blue-green.

Other Messier objects in Ursa Major: M40, M81, M82, M101, M108, M109.

Data: Messier catalogue & IAU constellations, via English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) · stored statically.