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Explanation: What created this unusual planetary nebula? NGC 7027 is one of the smallest, brightest, and most unusually shaped planetary nebulas known. Given its expansion rate, NGC 7027 first started expanding, as visible from Earth, about 600 years ago. For much of its history, the planetary nebula has been expelling shells, as seen in blue in the featured image. In modern times, though, for reasons unknown, it began ejecting gas and dust (seen in red) in specific directions that created a new pattern that seems to have four corners. These shells and patterns have been mapped in impressive detail by recent images from the Wide Field Camera 3 onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. What lies at the nebula's center is unknown, with one hypothesis holding it to be a close binary star system where one star sheds gas onto an erratic disk orbiting the other star. NGC 7027, about 3,000 light years away, was first discovered in 1878 and can be seen with a standard backyard telescope toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus).
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: NGC 7027 - planetary nebula
Publications with words: NGC 7027 - planetary nebula
See also:
- The Medusa Nebula
- Jones Emberson 1
- APOD: 2024 February 12 Á HFG1 & Abell 6: Planetary Nebulae
- APOD: 2023 December 24 Á NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
- APOD: 2023 October 3 Á MyCn 18: The Engraved Hourglass Planetary Nebula
- NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula
- APOD: 2023 April 16 Á M2 9: Wings of a Butterfly Nebula