The origin of these cooler clouds within the nebula is still uncertain, but the streamers are clear evidence that their shapes are affected by radiation and stellar winds from the hot star at the center. Hajian and his team are scheduled to reobserve NGC 6751 with Hubble's WFPC2 in 2001. This measurement will allow the astronomers to calculate an accurate distance to NGC 6751. In the meantime, current estimates are that NGC 6751 is roughly 6,500 light-years from Earth. The nebula's diameter is 0.8 light-years, some 600 times the diameter of our own solar system.
North is to the lower right, East is to the upper right of the image.
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