NGC 7293: 螺旋星云

NGC 7293: 螺旋星云

2021年10月14日 NGC 7293: The Helix Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Ignacio Diaz Bobillo Explanation: A mere seven hundred light years from Earth, toward the constellation Aquarius, a sun-like star is dying. Its last few thousand years have produced the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a well studied and nearby example of a Planetary Nebula, typical of this final phase of stellar evolution. A total of 90 hours of exposure time have gone in to creating this expansive view of the nebula. Combining narrow band image data from emission lines of hydrogen atoms in red and oxygen atoms in blue-green hues, it shows remarkable details of the Helix’s brighter inner region about 3 light-years across. The white dot at the Helix’s center is this Planetary Nebula’s hot,…

加法夏望远镜拍摄的螺旋星云

加法夏望远镜拍摄的螺旋星云

2020年11月24日 The Helix Nebula from CFHT Image Credit & Copyright: CFHT, Coelum, MegaCam, J.-C. Cuillandre (CFHT) & G. A. Anselmi (Coelum) Explanation: Will our Sun look like this one day? The Helix Nebula is one of brightest and closest examples of a planetary nebula, a gas cloud created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The outer gasses of the star expelled into space appear from our vantage point as if we are looking down a helix. The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a white dwarf star, glows in light so energetic it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce. The Helix Nebula, given a technical designation of NGC 7293, lies about 700 light-years away towards the constellation of the…

布蓝柯及哈勃望远镜拍摄的螺旋星云

布蓝柯及哈勃望远镜拍摄的螺旋星云

2020年8月23日 The Helix Nebula from Blanco and Hubble Image Credit: C. R. O’Dell, (Vanderbilt) et al. ESA, NOAO, NASA Explanation: How did a star create the Helix nebula? The shapes of planetary nebula like the Helix are important because they likely hold clues to how stars like the Sun end their lives. Observations by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and the 4-meter Blanco Telescope in Chile, however, have shown the Helix is not really a simple helix. Rather, it incorporates two nearly perpendicular disks as well as arcs, shocks, and even features not well understood. Even so, many strikingly geometric symmetries remain. How a single Sun-like star created such beautiful yet geometric complexity is a topic of research. The Helix Nebula is the nearest planetary…