Cosmic Scale
Stingray Nebula
Planetary nebula · About 5,000 light-years
How big is Stingray Nebula?
Stingray Nebula is about 0.04 light-years across.
See Stingray Nebula in 3D, at true scale
The Stingray Nebula is the youngest planetary nebula known: its gas only started to glow a few decades ago. Hubble photos from 1996 and 2016 show it dimming and changing shape fast. Its star heated up suddenly and is now cooling back down.
At a glance
| Diameter | 0.04 light-years |
|---|---|
| Diameter compared with Earth | 3.0 × 10⁷ × Earth |
| Distance | About 5,000 light-years (uncertain) |
| Size | About 0.04 light-years across |
| Constellation | Ara |
| Also known as | Hen 3-1357 |
Good to know
- Between 1996 and 2016 the green glow of its oxygen dropped nearly 1,000 times.
- Its central star heated to almost ten times the Sun's surface temperature, then cooled again.
- Astronomers have never seen a planetary nebula change this fast, within a human lifetime.
- Next smaller: Holmberg 15A* · 0.03 light-years
- Next larger: TON 618 · 0.04 light-years