Mz 3

Mz 3 (Menzel 3) is a young bipolar planetary nebula (PN) in the constellation Norma that is composed of a bright core and four distinct high-velocity outflows that have been named lobes, columns, rays, and chakram. These nebulosities are described as: two spherical bipolar lobes, two outer large filamentary hour-glass shaped columns, two cone shaped rays, and a planar radially expanding, elliptically shaped chakram.Mz 3 is a complex system composed of three nested pairs of bipolar lobes and an equatorial ellipse.Its lobes all share the same axis of symmetry but each have very different morphologies and opening angles.It is an unusual PN in that it is believed, by some researchers, to contain a symbiotic binary at its center.One study suggests that the dense nebular gas at its center may ha

Mz 3

Mz 3 (Menzel 3) is a young bipolar planetary nebula (PN) in the constellation Norma that is composed of a bright core and four distinct high-velocity outflows that have been named lobes, columns, rays, and chakram. These nebulosities are described as: two spherical bipolar lobes, two outer large filamentary hour-glass shaped columns, two cone shaped rays, and a planar radially expanding, elliptically shaped chakram.Mz 3 is a complex system composed of three nested pairs of bipolar lobes and an equatorial ellipse.Its lobes all share the same axis of symmetry but each have very different morphologies and opening angles.It is an unusual PN in that it is believed, by some researchers, to contain a symbiotic binary at its center.One study suggests that the dense nebular gas at its center may ha