The team speculates that R Aquarii experienced two
novalike explosions a year apart that may have ejected the nebula.
Large telescopes and high magnification reveal the tiny Homunculus Nebula, which surrounds this
novalike star.
This is believed to have arisen from
novalike explosions that occurred in centuries past.
At high power my 17 1/2-inch Dobsonian reflector shows it as an oval smudge 3' long and unevenly bright, an effect abetted by a foreground star near its center with
novalike magnitude 13 1/2.
The most conspicuous galaxy here is 12.3-magnitude NGC 1625, whose 2.0cents-by-0.6cents glow includes a faint,
novalike foreground star at its northwest end.