Planetary Nebula HDW 3

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Hartl-Dengel-Weinberger 3 (HDW 3) is a large, ancient planetary nebula. Its distinctive braided shape is the result of the planetary nebula colliding with the interstellar gas around it as the nebula moves through the galaxy. The star that produced the planetary nebula is the faint bluish one just below and to the right of the bright star near the center of the image.The image was generated with observations in Hydrogen alpha (red) and Oxygen III (blue) filters. In this image, North is up, East is to the left.