RCW 100
    Wallpaper author:
    Kabir Jami

    07 Sept 2026

    RCW 100

    RCW-100/Shapley 1/PLN 329+2.1 is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Norma with a magnitude of +12.6. As viewed from Earth, it is peculiar in that it seems to be a non-bipolar, torus-shaped planetary nebula. However, it is thought that this is due to the viewpoint of looking directly down on a binary system whose orbit is perpendicular to Earth.


    Discovered in 1936 by Harlow Shapley, it is approximately 4900 light years from Earth, and is around 8700 years old. At the center of the nebula is a magnitude 14 white dwarf star. It has an angular diameter of 1.1 arc minutes, which makes it about one-third (.32) of a light year across.

    Dataset from which the image was processed

    RCW 100

    8 credit

    Open

    RCW 100