Exploring Strangely Shaped Nebulae
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Text, News From The Universe. June 24, 2020
Exploring Strangely Shaped Nebulae
Scientists have new insight into what is creating unusual shapes in two planetary nebulae, thanks to multi-wavelength images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
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"Planetary Nebulae" refers not to a planet but to stars that have ejected layers of gas and dust, appearing planet-like to small telescopes.
Photo, a blue nebula with pink streaks in the middle.
Text, In the case of N G C 6 3 0 2, streams of iron emission (in pink) indicate that recent ejections result from the interaction of two stars in the nebula's core.
In N G C 7 0 2 7 the change is more dramatic.
Photo, a spherical ball of blue gas shows even layers of lighter blue and sharp, uneven streaks of red.
Text, Something off-kilter in the center of the nebula has disrupted centuries of symmetrical output.
The new cloverleaf pattern, with bullets of material shooting out in specific directions, also points to the interactions of two central stars.
Astronomers think this is an example of what happens when a red giant star abruptly swallows a companion star.
This news was brought to you in part by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore MD.