bipolar nebula tagged posts

In this cosmic snapshot, the spectacularly symmetrical wings of Hen 2-437 show up in a magnificent icy blue hue. Hen 2-437 is a planetary nebula, one of around 3,000 such objects known to reside within the Milky Way. Credit: ESA (European Space Agency)/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

Located in the faint northern constellation of Vulpecula (The Fox), Hen 2-437 was first identified in 1946 by Rudolph Minkowski, who later also discovered the famous and equally beautiful M2-9 (otherwise known as the Twin Jet Nebula). Hen 2-437 was added to a catalog of planetary nebula over 2 decades later by astronomer and NASA astronaut Karl Gordon Henize.

Planetary nebulae such as Hen 2-437 form when an aging low-mass star—such as the sun—reaches the final stages of life...

The Twin Jet Nebula, or PN M2-9, is a striking example of a bipolar planetary nebula. Bipolar planetary nebulae are formed when the central object is not a single star, but a binary system, Studies have shown that the nebula’s size increases with time, and measurements of this rate of increase suggest that the stellar outburst that formed the lobes occurred just 1200 years ago. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

The new image highlights nebula PN M2-9 shells and its knots of expanding gas in striking detail via NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. 2 iridescent lobes of material stretch outwards from a central star system. Within these lobes 2 huge jets of gas are streaming from the star system at speeds in >1 million km/ hour.

The M in the name PN M2-9 refers to Rudolph Mi...