(Press-News.org) Planetary nebulae represent a final brief stage in the life of a star like the Sun. While consuming the last of the fuel in its core, the star expels a large portion of its outer regions, which then heats up and glows brightly, showing intricate structures that scientists are still trying to fully understand. The structure visible within NGC 5189 is particularly dramatic, and Hubble's image of the nebula is by far the most detailed yet made of this object [1].
Hubble has been a key tool for studying planetary nebulae for years, and many of its images have become famous. As well as being highly attractive, planetary nebulae tell us about the ultimate fate of the Sun, which will form such a nebula when it runs out of fuel in a little over five billion years.
These nebulae were named by astronomers studying them through early telescopes with little magnification and optics that were far from sharp. The brightly coloured nebulae are often roughly spherical, and many appear green or blue like Uranus and Neptune, so their appearance evoked that of gas giant planets like those in the outer Solar System.
Many of them do indeed look somewhat planetlike, but NGC 5189 certainly does not: the nebula forms a dramatic reverse S-shape.
Looking at the detail of Hubble's image, possible thanks to Hubble's very high resolution, the nebula shows a series of dense knots in the clouds of gas. The gas and radiation flowing out from the dying star carves out shapes in the clouds, forming glowing bow-wave-like patterns towards the centre of the nebula.
The knots in NGC 5189 are a reminder of just how vast the planetary nebula is. They might look like mere details in this image, but each and every one is a similar size to the entire Solar System.
The star at the centre of the nebula, a dense white dwarf, is far too small to see as anything other than a point of light, even though it is roughly the size of the Earth.
The overall shape of NGC 5189 can counterintuitively tell us about what is happening on very small scales around the tiny central star. NGC 5189's shape is reminiscent of a lawn sprinkler, with matter being expelled from the star, which is wobbling as it rotates.
Similar structures have been seen before, especially in planetary nebulae with binary stars at their centres. This is also a likely explanation for the structure of NGC 5189, though to date, only one star has been found at the nebula's centre.
INFORMATION:
Notes
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.
[1] Previously, the best images of NGC 5189 came from the Gemini Observatory and the European Southern Observatory's New Technology Telescope. Hubble's surpasses both in clarity and sharpness.
Image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Links
Images of Hubble: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/category/spacecraft/
NASA release: http://hubblesite.org/news/2012/49
Contacts
Oli Usher
Hubble/ESA
Garching bei München, Germany
A swoosh in space: Merry Christmas from Hubble
2012-12-18
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
EARTH: Here comes the solar maximum
2012-12-18
Alexandria, VA – In 1859, the largest recorded coronal mass ejection (CME) from the sun, known as the Carrington Event, disrupted what little electrical technology was used at the time. Back then, that meant the temporary disruption of the telegraph system. Today, without an effective warning mechanism in place, a solar storm of that magnitude could wreak havoc on our technology-dependent world. And with the solar maximum predicted to occur later this year, scientists and policymakers are scrambling to prepare us for when the next big solar storm hits.
CMEs occur when ...
Psychologists: Scrooge's transformation parallels real life-changing experiences
2012-12-18
"Bah, humbug!" is the line most closely associated with Ebenezer Scrooge, the famous miser from "A Christmas Carol."
But the authors of a new study on life-changing experiences give author Charles Dickens high marks for his portrayal of Scrooge's sudden switch to saintliness.
Former grad student Jon Skalski and Brigham Young University psychology professor Sam Hardy conducted an in-depth study of 14 people who experienced profound, sudden and lasting change. They say the fictional Scrooge would fit right in.
"Like our participants, Scrooge was suffering," Skalski ...
The best-laid plans: How we update our goals based on new information
2012-12-18
Humans are adept at setting goals and updating them as new situations arise — for example, a person who is playing a video game may switch to a new goal when their phone rings.
Now, Princeton University researchers have identified mechanisms that govern how the brain incorporates information about new situations into our existing goals, according to research recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Using brain scans of human volunteers, researchers at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI) found that updating goals takes ...
The Green Revolution is wilting
2012-12-18
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (12/18/2012) —The Green Revolution has stagnated for key food crops in many regions of the world, according to a study published in the Dec. 18 issue of Nature Communications by scientists with the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment and McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Led by IonE research fellow Deepak Ray, the study team developed geographically detailed maps of annual crop harvested areas and yields of maize (corn), rice, wheat and soybeans from 1961 to 2008. It found that although virtually all regions showed a yield ...
USC study: Internet outages in the US doubled during Hurricane Sandy
2012-12-18
USC scientists who track Internet outages throughout the world noted a spike in outages due to Hurricane Sandy, with almost twice as much of the Internet down in the U.S. as usual.
Previous research by this team has shown that on any given day, about 0.3 percent of the Internet is down for one reason or another. Just before Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, that number was around 0.2 percent in the U.S. (pretty good, by global standards) – but once the storm made landfall, it jumped to 0.43 percent and took about four days to return to normal, according to a new report ...
Study: Curbing car travel could be as effective as cutting calories
2012-12-18
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Those considering how to maintain a healthy weight during holiday festivities, or looking ahead to New Year's resolutions, may want to think twice before reaching for traditional staples like cookies or candy – or the car keys.
A new study by University of Illinois researchers, led by computer science and mathematics professor Sheldon H. Jacobson, suggests that both daily automobile travel and calories consumed are related to body weight, and reducing either one, even by a small amount, correlates with a reduction in body mass index (BMI).
"We're saying ...
Researchers find model system to study promising cancer drug
2012-12-18
Researchers have found that the budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is an acceptable model system to study KP1019, an anti-cancer drug that uses ruthenium, a rare metal, a new study found. Researchers had previously been interested in studying KP1019 because it is believed to cause cancer cell death and is not known to have negative secondary side effects for healthy tissues.
"We wanted to learn more about how KP1019 works on a cellular level, and how the drug acts on yeast cells can be indicative of how it will perform on mammalian cells," said Pamela Hanson, ...
Chronic worriers at higher risk for PTSD
2012-12-18
EAST LANSING, Mich. --- People who worry constantly are at greater risk for post-traumatic stress disorder, according to new Michigan State University research published in the journal Psychological Medicine.
Many people experience traumatic events such as the death of a loved one, being assaulted or witnessing violence, but only a small minority develop PTSD, said study author Naomi Breslau, a professor of epidemiology at MSU.
"So the question is, 'What's the difference between those who develop PTSD and the majority who don't,'" Breslau said. "This paper says people ...
Hybrid tunnel may help guide severed nerves back to health
2012-12-18
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Building a tunnel made up of both hard and soft materials to guide the reconnection of severed nerve endings may be the first step toward helping patients who have suffered extensive nerve trauma regain feeling and movement, according to a team of biomedical engineers.
"Nerve injury in both central nervous system and peripheral nervous system is a major health problem," said Mohammad Reza Abidian, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, Penn State. "According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, there are approximately ...
Researchers identify role for protein linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes
2012-12-18
DALLAS – Dec. 17, 2012 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have taken another step toward better understanding the metabolic functions of obesity and its connection to type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Philipp Scherer, Director of the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research at UT Southwestern, led a group of researchers in a recent multicenter study published in Nature Medicine that successfully identified ways to manipulate the protein mitoNEET. This is the first time the protein has been effectively altered to expand fat tissue in a way that allows subjects – in this ...