Credit & Copyright: Don Goldman
Explanation:
The lovely, symmetric planetary nebula
cataloged as MWP1 lies some
4,500 light-years away in the northern constellation
Cygnus the Swan.
One of the largest
planetary nebulae
known, it spans about 15
light-years.
Based on its expansion rate
the nebula has an age of 150 thousand years,
a cosmic blink of an eye
in the 10 billion year life of a sun-like star.
But planetary nebulae represent a very brief final phase in
in stellar
evolution, as the nebula's central star shrugs off
its outer layers to become a hot white dwarf.
In fact, planetary nebulae ordinarily only last
for 10 to 20 thousand years.
As a result, truly
ancient MWP1
offers a beautiful
challenge to astronomers studying the evolution of its central star.
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 - stellar evolution - Planetarnaya tumannost' - Evolyuciya zvezd
Publikacii so slovami: planetary nebula - stellar evolution - Planetarnaya tumannost' - Evolyuciya zvezd | |
Sm. takzhe:
Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >> | |
