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. Astronomers have recently 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.

<<  Sentyabr'  >> Pn Vt Sr Cht Pt Sb Vs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30           1995   1996   1997 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'

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
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: MyCn18 - Hourglass Nebula - Planetarnaya tumannost' - Evolyuciya zvezd - belyi karlik Publikacii so slovami: MyCn18 - Hourglass Nebula - Planetarnaya tumannost' - Evolyuciya zvezd - belyi karlik
Sm. takzhe: Tumannost' Meduza M27: eto ne kometa Dzhons-Emberson-1 Kol'ca vokrug tumannosti Kol'co HFG1 i Eibell 6: planetarnye tumannosti NGC 2440: kokon novogo belogo karlika MyCn 18: planetarnaya tumannost' Pesochnye Chasy Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>