October 21, 2010
The oldest light in the universe still hums faintly through space, a relic of the beginning itself.
Methuselah Nebula MWP1
Birthday · October 21, 2010
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APOD published October 21, 2010. Credit: Don Goldman. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
The lovely, symmetric planetary nebula cataloged as MWP1 lies some 4,500 light-years away in the northern constellation Cygnus the Swan. One of the largest planetary nebulae known, it spans about 15 light-years. Based on its expansion rate the nebula has an age of 150 thousand years, a cosmic blink of an eye in the 10 billion year life of a sun-like star. But planetary nebulae represent a very brief final phase in stellar evolution, as the nebula's central star shrugs off its outer layers to become a hot white dwarf. In fact, planetary nebulae ordinarily only last for 10 to 20 thousand years. As a result, truly ancient MWP1 offers a beautiful challenge to astronomers studying the evolution of its central star.
Image credit: Don Goldman