Jakoby 1, also known as JaFu 1, is a young and enigmatic planetary nebula located in the constellation Pegasus. Discovered by amateur astronomer Rainer Sparenberg and named after his son, Jakob, it represents a fascinating and relatively rare class of celestial objects. Planetary nebulae are formed during the late stages of a star's life when it sheds its outer layers, creating a glowing shell of ionized gas surrounding a hot central star.

What makes Jakoby 1 particularly intriguing is its complex and asymmetric structure, which sets it apart from more symmetrically shaped planetary nebulae. This asymmetry hints at dynamic processes occurring within the nebula, such as interactions with the surrounding interstellar medium or the presence of binary companions shaping its morphology. Studying Jakoby 1 provides astronomers with valuable insights into the late evolutionary stages of low- to intermediate-mass stars and the mechanisms responsible for shaping the diverse array of planetary nebulae observed throughout the cosmos.

Image Description and Details : This is one of the hardest deep space objects I have ever processed. I was well past diminishing returns in the amount of integration time I captured for my poor bortle 8 skies. I started capturing this April of this year; four months ago. It was even more challenging than the squid nebula; Ou4. While Jacoby 1 has only a designation name, I decided to call it the coffee stain planetary nebula for obvious reasons. Jacoby 1 lies within the Bootes constellation. It was discovered in 1995 by George Jacoby. It's amazing given how faint it is that he was able to discover it in the first place.

Copyright: © Douglas J Struble