APOD: 2020 August 14 B NGC 5189: An Unusually Complex Planetary Nebula
Explanation:
Why is this nebula so complex?
When a star like our Sun is dying, it will cast off its outer layers, usually into
a simple overall shape.
Sometimes this shape is a
sphere, sometimes a
double lobe, and sometimes a
ring or a
helix.
In the case of planetary nebula
NGC 5189,
however, besides an overall "Z" shape
(the featured image is flipped horizontally and so appears as an "S"),
no such simple structure has emerged.
To help find out why, the Earth-orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope
has observed NGC 5189 in great detail.
Previous findings
indicated the existence of multiple epochs of material outflow,
including a recent one that created a bright but distorted
torus
running horizontally
across image center.
Hubble results appear consistent with a hypothesis that the
dying star
is part of a binary star
system with a
precessing symmetry axis.
NGC 5189 spans about three light years and lies about 3,000 light years
away toward the southern constellation of the Fly
(Musca).
| << Yesterday | 14.08.2020 | Tomorrow >> |
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 |
Yanvar' Fevral' Mart Aprel' Mai Iyun' Iyul' Avgust Sentyabr' Oktyabr' Noyabr' Dekabr' |
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
|
Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami:
planetary nebula - Planetarnaya tumannost'
Publikacii so slovami: planetary nebula - Planetarnaya tumannost' | |
Sm. takzhe:
Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >> | |
