The gas and dust cloud is peculiarly massive, containing approximately three times the mass of our own Sun.
Since June 16, 1995, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has posted a cosmological image on its Astronomy Picture of the Day web page. Today’s image (August 26, 2013) is of one of the brightest nebulae in the universe, called nebula NGC 7027. The nebula was discovered in 1878, and can be viewed in the direction of the Cygnus constellation with a standard conventional telescope. Due to the nebula’s apparently indistinct features that appear using traditional telescopes, the nebula is rarely ever referred to by a descriptive moniker – such as Crab, Horsehead, Hourglass, and the like.
However, using the Hubble Space Telescope, stunning details are revealed that standard telescopes could only dream of being capable of capturing. Through analysis of the images of NGC 7027 captured by Hubble, astronomers have come to understand that it is a planetary nebula that began expanding roughly 600 years ago. Interestingly, the gas and dust cloud is peculiarly massive, containing approximately three times the mass of our own Sun.
Looking at the image, which appears today in assigned colors, NASA scientists have suggested that the nebula resembles a “familiar icon.” The space agency has called for the public to make name suggestions in an online APOD discussion forum on the NASA web site.
In other NASA news, the space agency’s Spitzer Space Telescope recently celebrated 10 years in space. The telescope examined comets and asteroids, counted stars, analyzed planets and galaxies, and found carbon spheres in space known as buckyballs. Spitzer continues to scrutinize the cosmos near and far. Spitzer’s newest task is assisting NASA with its search for potential candidates for a mission to capture, redirect and study a near-Earth asteroid.
“President Obama’s goal of visiting an asteroid by 2025 combines NASA’s diverse talents in a unified endeavor,” said John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science in Washington. “Using Spitzer to help us characterize asteroids and potential targets for an asteroid mission advances both science and exploration.”
Spitzer’s infrared vision allows it to observe the far, cold and dusty side of the universe. For example, the space telescope discovered the biggest of Saturn’s many rings.
“I always knew Spitzer would work, but I had no idea that it would be as productive, exciting and long-lived as it has been,” said Spitzer project scientist Michael Werner of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. ”The spectacular images that it continues to return, and its cutting-edge science, go far beyond anything we could have imagined when we started on this journey more than 30 years ago.”
What do you think of Spitzer’s discoveries?
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