Mz 1, is a bipolar

Bipolar nebula

A bipolar nebula is a distinctive nebular formation characterized by an axially symmetric bi-lobed appearance.Many, but not all, planetary nebulae exhibit an observed bipolar structure...

 planetary nebula

Planetary nebula

A planetary nebula is an emission nebula consisting of an expanding glowing shell of ionized gas ejected during the asymptotic giant branch phase of certain types of stars late in their life...

 (PN) in the constellation Norma

Norma (constellation)

Norma is a small and inconspicuous constellation in the southern hemisphere between Scorpius and Centaurus. Its name is Latin for normal, referring to a right angle, and is variously considered to represent a rule, a carpenter's square, a set square or a level....

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Characteristics

Menzel 1 is a bright PN that has a prominent central ring of enhanced emission. One model of its structure is a 3 dimensional hour-glass shape with a smoothly decreasing density starting from the waist or equator as measured outwardly to the poles. It is radially expanding at a rate of about 23 km/s and estimated to be around 4,500 to 10,000 years old and has its polar axis oriented at an angle of around 40° from the plane of the sky. Its central star

White dwarf

A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a small star composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. They are very dense; a white dwarf's mass is comparable to that of the Sun and its volume is comparable to that of the Earth. Its faint luminosity comes from the emission of stored...

 is estimated to have a mass of 0.63 ± 0.05 M_⊙

Solar mass

The solar mass , , is a standard unit of mass in astronomy, used to indicate the masses of other stars and galaxies...

. In 1992 Schwarz, Corradi, & Melnick published narrow band images of Mz 1 in Hα and [OIII]. H₂ emission was observed in Mz 1 by
Webster, Payne, Storey, Dopita (1988). However, despite its relative brightness, Mz 1 has only been studied in a few papers.