Astronomy Picture of the Day 6-15-02

NASA ^ | 6-15-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 June 15

MyCn18: An Hourglass Nebula
Credit: R. Sahai and J. Trauger (JPL), WFPC2, HST, NASA

Explanation: The sands of time are running out for the central star of this hourglass-shaped planetary nebula. With its nuclear fuel exhausted, this brief, spectacular, closing phase of a Sun-like star's life occurs as its outer layers are ejected - its core becoming a cooling, fading white dwarf. In 1995, astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to make a series of images of planetary nebulae, including the one above. Here, delicate rings of colorful glowing gas (nitrogen-red, hydrogen-green, and oxygen-blue) outline the tenuous walls of the "hourglass". The unprecedented sharpness of the HST images has revealed surprising details of the nebula ejection process and may help resolve the outstanding mystery of the variety of complex shapes and symmetries of planetary nebulae.

[petuniasevan]

Mayall Cannon 18 is the designation for the Hourglass Nebula. The source is a catalog of faint stars. It was the work of Annie Jump Cannon and Margaret W. Mayall during the 1930s and 1940s, based on and expanding the earlier Draper catalog.

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[petuniasevan]

APOD PING!

[2Trievers]

Wonderfully mtsterious, like life. &;-)

The Rivers of Our Life

The rivers of our life have many streams
         before they reach the ocean's reams
                   of waves that affect our life –
         some good, some sad, but not all strife –

With thoughts of the past we can
          at last reflect on the loves and
                   joys that cloud our minds
         to weave the patterns weak and
                   strong in kind, and we are blessed
         that they are memories of
                   where we were and where we are
         as they quilt the rivers of our life.
                             Ida Crossan – 1/30/96

[Maceman]

I would have called it the "God's Eye" nebula.

[sleavelessinseattle]

GORGEOUS!!! And much smaller than most structures...its amazing to see the white dwarf at the center...Many pictures we see are of entire galaxies...impossible to see the core and many billions of stars sprinkled through the dust cloud...To see the cause of those hoops so clearly...you get a feel for the violence of the reaction...and those hoops are probably where the heavy fusion products of the star's death now reside...to float into other dust clouds as the ingredients of life...Carbon, Oxygen, Sodium...the Periodic Table Banquet is serving Brunch for potential life forms that God already knows the specs for, but the circumstances aren't right, yet...someday, though!!! MARTIANS!!!! BWahaHA!!

[aomagrat]

Now that's interesting!

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

We never imagined such things really existed. I mean, you see them on Star Wars as they go warp speed through them.. but to see a REAL one is just amazing. I don't know how I missed this thread all these years, but I'm sure glad we found you!!

Thank you for opening a whole new world to us.

[~EagleNebula~]

No kidding, it looks like an eye!! Fabulous pic, Petuniasevan!

[bmwcyle]

BTTT

[RightWhale]

delicate rings of colorful glowing gas (nitrogen-red, hydrogen-green, and oxygen-blue)

Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Oxygen.

Earth's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and oxygen, plus some hydrogen and carbon in combination, which upsets some environmentalists greatly, especially nitrogen and carbon combinations with oxygen. This is where it comes from: burnt out stars.

WE are the eyes of the universe.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

BUMP for educational purposes :o)

[~EagleNebula~]

Thanks for sharing! Caught some of your posts on another thread that Eternal Vigilance was reading! (Yuh, I was reading over his shoulder!) You are a hoot, as well as an educator! ;-)

[Hellmouth]

That's the Twilight Zone nebula....