The oldest planetary nebula has been found by researchers.
A planetary nebula with a kinetic age of 78,000 years has been identified by an international team of astronomers lead by researchers from the Laboratory for Space Research (LSR) and the Department of Physics at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). IPHASX J055226.2+323724 was its name. The Astrophysical Journal Letters released the findings in its journal.
The open galactic cluster M37, which is roughly 500 million years old, contains the nebula, which is a ring of ionised gas encircling a white dwarf. The Milky Way has 4,000 planetary nebulae in all.
In the report, it is stated that the discovery was made as part of a programme to identify and study planetary nebulae, or associations of open clusters. This is only the third instance of a planetary nebula in a galactic open cluster that is known to exist.
Scientists examined photos indicating the nebula's pace of expansion and examined its emission lines to establish its age (the brightest parts of the spectrum, which can be used to understand the chemical composition of the emitted element).
