April 19, 2017
The atoms in your body have known many forms: star core, drifting dust, ocean mineral, living cell.
The Red Spider Planetary Nebula
Birthday · April 19, 2017
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APOD published April 19, 2017. Credit: Jes�s M.Vargas & Maritxu Poyal. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Oh what a tangled web a planetary nebula can weave. The Red Spider Planetary Nebula shows the complex structure that can result when a normal star ejects its outer gases and becomes a white dwarf star. Officially tagged NGC 6537, this two-lobed symmetric planetary nebula houses one of the hottest white dwarfs ever observed, probably as part of a binary star system. Internal winds emanating from the central stars, visible in the center, have been measured in excess of 1000 kilometers per second. These winds expand the nebula, flow along the nebula's walls, and cause waves of hot gas and dust to collide. Atoms caught in these colliding shocks radiate light shown in the above representative-color picture by the Hubble Space Telescope. The Red Spider Nebula lies toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). Its distance is not well known but has been estimated by some to be about 4,000 light-years. Follow APOD on: Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram, or Twitter
Image credit: Jes�s M.Vargas & Maritxu Poyal