This is so amazing. I wish I could know how big these are, what they are made of and how far away they are.
Ross
April 6th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
What is it? a Pulsing star? It looks awesome!
GG
April 7th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
My brain cannot contain the space represented here, it is beyond belief.
Bixtonian
April 8th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
This is the remains of a large star which began to run out of hydrogen to burn (this will happen in about 5 billion years time for our sun).
Trying to put it simply,the massive amounts of energy released by helium fusion and the instability caused by temperature sensitivity cause violent pulsations to build up which can eject large amounts of the outer layer of a star into space.
Around this star the gas is so dense we cannot see the star directly (the dark patch in the very centre). But what we can see is where the some light has penetrated this dense gas shell and illuminated the outer layers. The colours you can see arise from the same physics that explain the multitude of colours that can be seen in a beautiful sunset.
This nebula is about 3000 light-years away so its relatively close, although still a stupidly long way away. The light you see in these images was created a few hundred years before the pyramids of Egypt were constructed. It’s about 0.4 light years in diameter or about 4000 billion km from edge to edge. It will mostly be made of hydrogen and helium but will also have some heavier elements. All the really heavy elements that we find around us and in our own bodies need to be made in much much bigger stars, we really are made of star dust.
Cara
April 8th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
And if you want to understand the physics that help explain the multitude of colours
please watch this MIT lecture. You will simply never see a rainbow the same way.
See how the image is diagonally symmetrical and looks like a ripple? That means the light from the nebula is being gravitationally lensed by a black hole that lies directly in the line between the nebula and earth.
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This is so amazing. I wish I could know how big these are, what they are made of and how far away they are.
What is it? a Pulsing star? It looks awesome!
My brain cannot contain the space represented here, it is beyond belief.
This is the remains of a large star which began to run out of hydrogen to burn (this will happen in about 5 billion years time for our sun).
Trying to put it simply,the massive amounts of energy released by helium fusion and the instability caused by temperature sensitivity cause violent pulsations to build up which can eject large amounts of the outer layer of a star into space.
Around this star the gas is so dense we cannot see the star directly (the dark patch in the very centre). But what we can see is where the some light has penetrated this dense gas shell and illuminated the outer layers. The colours you can see arise from the same physics that explain the multitude of colours that can be seen in a beautiful sunset.
This nebula is about 3000 light-years away so its relatively close, although still a stupidly long way away. The light you see in these images was created a few hundred years before the pyramids of Egypt were constructed. It’s about 0.4 light years in diameter or about 4000 billion km from edge to edge. It will mostly be made of hydrogen and helium but will also have some heavier elements. All the really heavy elements that we find around us and in our own bodies need to be made in much much bigger stars, we really are made of star dust.
And if you want to understand the physics that help explain the multitude of colours
please watch this MIT lecture. You will simply never see a rainbow the same way.
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/33
great description bixtonian!
See how the image is diagonally symmetrical and looks like a ripple? That means the light from the nebula is being gravitationally lensed by a black hole that lies directly in the line between the nebula and earth.
you’re a liar SUMANTA. stop lying please.