Celebrating Hubble With NGC 6751
Explanation:
Planetary nebulae
do look simple,
round, and planet-like in small telescopes.
But images from the orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope have become
well known for showing these fluorescent
gas shrouds of dying Sun-like stars to possess a
staggering variety of detailed symmetries and shapes.
This composite color Hubble
image
of NGC 6751 is a beautiful example of a classic planetary nebula
with complex features and was selected to commemorate the
tenth
anniversary of Hubble in orbit.
The colors were chosen to represent the relative temperature of the
gas - blue, orange, and red indicating the hottest to coolest gas.
Winds and radiation from the intensely hot central
star
(140,000
degrees
Celsius)
have apparently created the nebula's streamer-like features.
The nebula's
actual diameter is approximately 0.8 light-years
or about 600 times the
size of our
solar system.
NGC 6751 is 6,500 light-years distant in the constellation
Aquila.
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.
