IC 289 is a faint nebula in Cassiopea constellation and it hasn't been object of consideration by astronomers for years. Average telescopes show it as a faint ellipse with a clearly visible anular structure. Large telescopes can help the observer to show variation of brightness on the ring, best shown in photos. Old studies reveal that IC 289 has a bipolar toroid structure, where its toroid is exactly its main ring. Fainter lobes are shown, not so far from the ring, on the minor ellipse axis direction. That could be an evidence that its polar axis is tilted from our visual direction. Recent color images show central regions partially red. That's because of an important Halpha emission, probably associated with a shell or a strip that wraps the central structure, the same as it happens in NGC 7662 and NGC 7008.
Interesting level: **** |
