Astronomical Network » Photogallery » Astronomical Picture of the Day » Bright Planetary Nebula NGC 7027 from Hubble

Bright Planetary Nebula NGC 7027 from Hubble

© NASAESAJoel Kastner (RITet al.Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

What created this unusual planetary nebula? NGC 7027 is one of the smallest, brightest, and most unusually shaped planetary nebulas known. Given its expansion rate, NGC 7027 first started expanding, as visible from Earth, about 600 years ago. For much of its history, the planetary nebula has been expelling shells, as seen in blue in the featured image. In modern times, though, for reasons unknown, it began ejecting gas and dust (seen in red) in specific directions that created a new pattern that seems to have four corners. These shells and patterns have been mapped in impressive detail by recent images from the Wide Field Camera 3 onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. What lies at the nebula's center is unknown, with one hypothesis holding it to be a close binary star system where one star sheds gas onto an erratic disk orbiting the other star. NGC 7027, about 3,000 light years away, was first discovered in 1878 and can be seen with a standard backyard telescope toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus).

Based on Astronomy Picture Of the Day.

0 комментариев
30-06-2020, 23:31
Information
Users of Гости are not allowed to comment this publication.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter and receive the latest information about space
Уже подписались: 2
Подписаться

This resource is non-commercial and exists thanks to the hosting provider: ua-hosting.company.

The site administration is not responsible for the content of comments on the site's materials. Comments on the site's materials are the personal opinions of the site's visitors.
© «Big.Space» 2024
Мы используем файлы cookies для улучшения работы сайта. Оставаясь на нашем сайте, вы соглашаетесь с нашей Политикой в отношении обработки персональных данных. Подробнее
Принимаю