Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: Matej Novak
Acknowledgement: Matej Novak
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a planetary nebula
named NGC 6153, located about 4000 light-years away in the southern
constellation of Scorpius
(The Scorpion). The faint blue haze across the frame shows what remains
of a star like the Sun after it has depleted most of its fuel. When
this happens, the outer layers of the star are ejected, and get excited
and ionised by the energetic ultraviolet light emitted by the bright hot
core of the star, forming the nebula.
NGC 6153 is a planetary
nebula that is elliptical in shape, with an extremely rich network of
loops and filaments, shown clearly in this Hubble image. However, this
is not what makes this planetary nebula so interesting for astronomers.
Measurements
show that NGC 6153 contains large amounts of neon, argon, oxygen,
carbon and chlorine — up to three times more than can be found in the
Solar System. The nebula contains a whopping five times more nitrogen
than the Sun! Although it may be that the star developed higher levels
of these elements as it grew and evolved, it is more likely that the
star originally formed from a cloud of material that already contained
lots more of these elements.
A version of this image was entered into the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Matej Novak.
Links
Source: ESA/Hubble - Space Telescope
