NGC 246 Skull Nebula Captured from Pearly Beach

NGC 246 (also known as the Skull Nebula or Caldwell 56) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Cetus (The Whale), discovered by William Herschel in 1785.

• Distance: Approximately 1,600 to 3,500 light-years from Earth
• Constellation: Cetus
• Apparent Magnitude: 8 mag. nebula and 11.8 mag. central star
• Diameter / Radius: Roughly 2 to 3 light-years across

• Hierarchical Triple System: NGC 246 is the first known planetary nebula centred on a hierarchical triple star system
• Components: It features a white dwarf (HIP 3678 A) and a close red dwarf companion (HIP 3678 C), with a third outer companion star orbiting the pair

S30 Pro on EQ mode, just over one hour of exposure time from Pearly Beach.