The Seal Observatory succeeds in photographing the Squid Nebula from the UAE sky

The Seal Astronomical Observatory, located in the Abu Dhabi desert, succeeded in photographing the very faint celestial “Squid Nebula”, which is considered one of the most difficult celestial objects that can be observed from the south of the Arabian Peninsula, after continuous attempts that lasted nearly a year and a half, adding this achievement to the UAE’s record in the field of advanced observation and astronomical photography.

Director of the International Astronomy Center, Engineer Mohamed Odeh, confirmed that this nebula is characterized by its extreme faintness, as it was not discovered until several years ago, in addition to the fact that it does not rise much above the horizon when observed from the southern regions, which limits the number of hours of photographing it during one night, in addition to its lowness and proximity to the horizon, which increases its weak brightness, which makes photographing it a major scientific and technical challenge.

He explained that the nebula that was photographed is known as the “Squid Nebula,” due to its shape that resembles a squid, and appears in the picture in blue, as it appears in front of another bright and clear nebula, the “Flying Bat Nebula,” which appears in a bright red color, and this name was given to it because of its shape that resembles a flying bat.

He added that the very bright star located in the central part of the Squid Nebula is the star “HR 8119”, which is a triple star system, noting that the apparent location of the nebula and its characteristics indicate that it is located within the Flying Bat Nebula, which suggests that it was launched about 90 thousand years ago by the star “HR 8119”. However, other hypotheses cannot be ruled out, including that it is a bipolar planetary nebula, or the result of an explosive event in a massive star of the type “AGB” or beyond “AGB” is not yet recognized.