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Download Hubble Offers a Dazzling View of Necklace Nebula
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration THESTAR A P U B L I C A T I O N O F N A S A’S WITNESS “A M A Z I N G S P A C E” E D U C A T I O N P R O G R A M Special Feature Hubble Offers a Dazzling View of Necklace Nebula By NASA’s Amazing Space reporters Sept. 2011 A Sun-like star’s last gasps have caught the eye of astronomers. They used the Hubble Space Telescope to view the Necklace Nebula, socalled because of its resemblance to a piece of glittering jewelry. The nebula consists of a bright ring, measuring 12 trillion miles wide and dotted with pearls of glowing gas. The object is the glowing remains of an ordinary, Sun-like star, called a planetary nebula. What’s in a name? The planetary nebula name is a misnomer because these objects have nothing to do with planets. They acquired their name more than 100 years ago when astronomers looking through small, crude telescopes saw them as compact, round, green-colored Continued, page 2… IMAGE: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) The Necklace Nebula: This Hubble image of the Necklace Nebula reveals a glowing ring of gas that resembles a necklace. The bright dot in the center of the ring is actually two stars orbiting close together. One of the stars is near the end of its life and created the planetary nebula. The estimated age of the ring is around 5,000 years. The nebula is 15,000 light-years from Earth. Astronomers discovered the nebula in November 2005 with the Isaac Newton Telescope during a survey of planetary nebulas. Continued from page 1… A gallery of nebulas objects that looked like the planet Uranus. A planetary nebula forms when a dying star expels its outer layers of material into space after it runs out of fuel to sustain nuclear reactions in its core. Our Sun will undergo a similar process, but not for another 5 billion years. Planetary nebulas fade gradually over tens of thousands of years. The hot remains of the star’s core will eventually cool off for billions of years as a white dwarf. These Hubble images show that planetary nebulas come in many different shapes. Cat’s Eye Nebula Hourglass Nebula Going out in style Astronomers have used Hubble to collect a rich assortment of planetary nebulas. Many of them, including the Cat’s Eye, the Hourglass, the Helix, and the Spirograph, have names that describe their shapes. Planetary nebulas are like snowflakes: No two are exactly alike. IMAGE: NASA, ESA, HEIC, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Helix Nebula IMAGE: Raghvendra Sahai and John Trauger (JPL), the WFPC2 science team, and NASA Spirograph Nebula Several ideas explain the diverse shapes. One idea is that some stars eject their material several times at the end of their lives. Another idea is that gravitational interactions with companion stars in two-star systems create some of the intricate shapes. The unique shapes are a work of art that everyone can appreciate. IMAGE: NASA, NOAO, ESA, the Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner (STScI), and T.A. Rector (NRAO) amazing-space.stsci.edu 2 IMAGE: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) SEE MORE Hubble images and read more Star Witness news stories at Amazing Space, NASA’s award-winning educational website for K-12 students and teachers. www.nasa.gov