Hubble Space Telescope photograph of the nebula
The Stingray Nebula (Hen 3-1357) is the youngest known planetary nebula (PN). (Gry 2002) The Stingray is located in the direction of the southern constellation Ara (the Altar).
History:
Karl Gordon Henize classified Stingray Nebula as an A or B type Hα emission line star in 1967. It was observed in 1971 to be a pre-planetary nebulae (PPNe) when it seemed to be a asymptotic giant branch (AGB) B1 supergiant. It was discovered as a planetary nebula (PN) in 1989 by the IUE .(Gry 2002) Parthasarathy et al. concluded that the light from the event arrived at Earth after 1975, probably in 1987 (the light would have travelled for about 18,000 years).
Planetary nebula nucleus (PNN):
In 1995 the central planetary nebula nucleus (PNN) was observed as a DA white dwarf, having seemingly faded by a factor of three between 1987 and 1995. The PNN has an estimated mass of 0.6 MΘ, and has an observed companion star separated by 0.3 arcsec. Nebula mass is estimated as 0.015 MΘ.Luminosity is estimated to be 3000 L☉.
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