Jones Emberson 1

Reprocessed in February 2021

Jones-Emberson 1 (PK 164+31.1) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Lynx at a distance of 1600 light years. It is a larger planetary with low surface brightness. The 16.8-magnitude central star is a very blue white dwarf.
The bubble of expanding gas pictured above (the planetary nebula PK 164 +31.1) is the remnants of the atmosphere of a Sun-like star expelled as its supply of fusion-able core hydrogen became depleted. Visible near the center of the nebula is what remains of the core itself — a blue-hot white dwarf star. Due to its faintness (magnitude 17) and low surface brightness, the object is only visible with a good-sized telescope. Although the expanding nebula will fade away over the next few thousand years, the central white dwarf may well survive for billions of years — to when our universe may be a very different place.