{"id":59162,"date":"2024-05-20T12:51:46","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T12:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/c2318063-8bae-486f-93bb-f89892a9d43a"},"modified":"2024-05-20T13:08:27","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T13:08:27","slug":"ever-witnessed-the-beauty-of-an-ageing-sun-like-star-a-planetary-nebula-is-one-of-the-most-amazing-celestial-sights","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/ever-witnessed-the-beauty-of-an-ageing-sun-like-star-a-planetary-nebula-is-one-of-the-most-amazing-celestial-sights\/","title":{"rendered":"Ever witnessed the beauty of an ageing Sun-like star? A planetary nebula is one of the most amazing celestial sights"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is a planetary nebula, and what do we know about their beautiful structures? <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Monday, 20 May 2024 at 12:51 PM<\/p>

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A planetary nebula is formed during the later stages of a star\u2019s life (the Sun, for example) as instability at the core causes the outer layers of the star to be shed.<\/p>

As the stellar wind pushes material away from the star, it can excite and interact with surrounding material, creating beautiful, ethereal structures.<\/p>

Hubble has helped to define the shape of the Ring Nebula, revealing it to be doughnut shaped, with lower density material at its core. Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage (STScI\/AURA)-ESA\/Hubble Collaboration<\/figcaption><\/figure>
What a planetary nebula looks like<\/strong><\/h2>
One of the first objects I looked at through a telescope was the Ring Nebula<\/a>. There was something about the neatly coloured doughnut that appealed, though I soon found that seeing more than a smudge is difficult \u2013 even through a large telescope.<\/p>
In images, though, especially those that flowed from the Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>, the complexity of the planetary nebula becomes.<\/p>
$\"Planetary$
Planetary nebula CVMP 1Gemini Observatory, 20 February 2020Credit: The international Gemini Observatory\/NSF\u2019s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory\/AURA<\/figcaption><\/figure>
In addition to rings, there are planetary nebulae that look like egg timers, nebulae<\/a> shaped like butterfly wings and even a singular object that goes by the name of the Red Rectangle.<\/p>
One planetary nebula known as the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest place in the Universe<\/a>.<\/p>
And the science behind Hubble’s images of the Butterfly Nebula<\/a> make for interesting reading.<\/p>
Close up, there are substructures \u2013 ribs, stripes and more \u2013 and it\u2019s these smaller scale features that are addressed in a study concentrating on hourglass-shaped nebulae, several of which seem to display faint filaments that the paper describes as a \u2018spiderweb\u2019 structure.<\/p>
$\"The$
The Butterfly nebula\u2019s 3-lightyear wing-span is created by a dying star as it throws out its outer layers into space – NASA\/ESA\/Hubble<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Some planetary nebulae look like egg-timers<\/strong><\/h2>
The Hubble image of the Matryoshka Nebula (below) shows how complicated such objects can be.<\/p>
A bright central source sits in the middle of the hourglass, the sides of which seem made of almost-transparent gossamer, with a texture that hints at unresolved structure.<\/p>
Material is believed to be flowing away from the central source and the whole thing sits in a larger, oval nebula consisting of long, curving arcs of glowing cooler gas.<\/p>
$\"Hubble$
Hubble images of the Matryoshka Nebula in different wavelengths reveal the extent of its surrounding structure. The arrows (right) indicate spiderweb arcs. Credit: Hubble\/ESA\/D M Clar<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Whatever is sculpting these structures, it produces symmetry, both north-south through the hourglass lobes and east-west in the spiderweb structure.<\/p>
The beauty of these objects is transitory, however. Something like the Ring Nebula will exist for only a few tens of thousands of years.<\/p>
The key insight of the model in the paper, though, is that the planetary nebulae we see today don\u2019t exist in a pristine environment.<\/p>
The process of atmosphere loss is erratic and takes time, so the star exists surrounded by its own debris.<\/p>
$\"Planetary$
Planetary Nebula ESO 577-24. Very Large Telescope, 22 January 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Some of this material, the authors say, must be falling back onto the star and their detection of what seems to be an accretion disk<\/a> around the central source suggests that there is enough material to make a difference.<\/p>
When gas is moving, it can become shocked and excited, and it seems like this process can weave the spiderweb structures that we observe.<\/p>
If the inside of the hourglass is a region where material flows outwards, its edge is a place where material can flow back.<\/p>
This process is likely to be somewhat chaotic and what appeared to be a precious, permanent jewel in the sky is revealed to be a dramatically dynamic system, as changeable as the pattern of waves on the surface of the sea.<\/p>
**Planetary nebulae in pictures<\/strong><\/h2>** $\"Planetary$
Planetary nebula NGC 6826Andrea Arbizzi, Modena, Italy, May 2023Equipment: ZWO ASI533MC Pro colour CMOS camera, Celestron EdgeHD 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, iOptron GEM45 mount<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Jacoby$
Jacoby 1 Planetary Nebula in BootesDouglas J Struble, Taylor, Missouri, USA, April to July 2022Equipment: ZWO ASI183MM-PRO camera, Stellarvue SVX102T-R telescope, Orion Atlas Pro mount<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Planetary$
Credit: Michael Breite\/ Stefan Heutz\/ Wolfgang Ries\/ccdguide.com<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Ancient$ <\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"The$
The Boomerang Nebula: a planetary nebula considered to be the coldest known place in the entire Universe. Credit: European Space Agency, NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Planetary$
Planetary nebulae NGC 6302 (Butterfly Nebula), IC 418 (Spirograph Nebula), NGC 3242 (Jupiter\u2019s Ghost), NGC 7662 (Blue Snowball Nebula), NGC 7027 (Jewel Bug Nebula) and NGC 2371CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY\/HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, 6 DECEMBER 2021IMAGE CREDITS: X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/RIT\/J.Kastner; Optical: NASA\/ESA\/AURA\/STScIX-ray: NASA\/CXC\/SAO; Optical: NASA\/ESA\/AURA\/STScIX-ray: NASA\/CXC\/SAO; Optical: NASA\/STScI\/Univ. Washington, B.BalickX-ray: NASA\/CXC\/SAO; Optical: NASA\/ESA\/AURA\/STScIX-ray: NASA\/CXC\/RIT\/J. Kastner; Optical: NASA\/ESA\/AURA\/STScIX-ray: NASA\/CXC\/SAO; Optical: NASA\/ESA\/AURA\/STScI<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Rare$ <\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Bipolar$ <\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Planetary$
Planetary nebula HFG1 Douglas Struble, Taylor, Michigan, USA, 10 November 2018 and 26 November 2020. Equipment: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro camera, Stellarvue SVX102T-R\/Explore Scientific 152mm apo triplet refractors, Astro-Physics GTO-Mach 1\/Orion Atlas Pro mounts<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"A$
A bubble of ultra-hot gas in the middle of planetary nebula IC 4593 CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY\/HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, 12 NOVEMBER 2020. Credit: X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/UNAM\/J. Toal\u00e1 et al.; Optical: NASA\/STScI<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Planetary$
Planetary nebula NGC 6886, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA\/ESA Hubble<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Owl$
The Owl is a planetary nebula. This has nothing to do with actual planets, but rather its spherical shape which were initially mistaken for planets. – Karen Kwitter (Williams College), Ron Downes (STScI), You-Hua Chu (University of Illinois) and NOAO\/AURA\/NSF<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"NGC$
NGC 2899: double-lobed planetary nebula shines in VLT image. Credit: ESO<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Planetary$
Planetary nebula CVMP 1Gemini Observatory, 20 February 2020Credit: The international Gemini Observatory\/NSF\u2019s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory\/AURA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"\"$
The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) is a large planetary nebula, created by an expanding shell of gas given off by the central star. Credit: NASA\/NOAO\/ESA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Planetary$ <\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Planetary$
Planetary nebula NGC 7009, or the Saturn Nebula, glows pink and blue. These observations with the Very Large Telescope have been used to create the first detailed optical maps of gas and dust distributed throughout a planetary nebula. Image Credit: ESO\/J. WalshCredit: ESO\/J. Walsh<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Perhaps$
Perhaps the most famous planetary nebula: the Dumbbell Nebula. This image was captured by the VLT in 1998. From its shape, it is easy to see how these nebulae got their ‘planetary’ name.Credit: ESO<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"\"$
This image of the Stingray nebula, a planetary nebula 2700 light-years from Earth, was taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) in 1998. In the centre of the nebula the fast evolving star SAO 244567 is located. Observations made within the last 45 years showed that the surface temperature of the star increased by almost 40 000 degree Celsius. Now new observations of the spectra of the star have revealed that SAO 244567 has started to cool again.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"M27$
M27 The Dumbbell Nebula bicolour by Ian Russell, Sutton Courtenay, UK. Equipment: Celestron 11″ EdgeHD, Celestron 0.7 focal reducer, CGEM DX, Atik 490ex, Atik OAG, IMG0H, PHD<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"M27$
M27 Dumbbell Nebula by Mark Griffith, Swindon, Wiltshire, UK. Equipment: Teleskop service 12″ Richey-Chretien telescope, Skywatcher EQ8 mount,Atik 383L camera, Astronomik LRGB filters, Hutech IDAS light pollution filter.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"M57$
M57 Ring Nebula by Martin Pyott, St Andrews, Fife, UK. Equipment: LUNT 80mm ED Refractor, ZWO ASI 120 MC-S CMOS Planetary webcam.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div>