Header Ads

A Beautiful Death: How a Dying Star Created the Crystal Ball Nebula

May 22, 2026
A Beautiful Death: How a Dying Star Created the Crystal Ball Nebula
By Evan Gough (https://ift.tt/XHoEadw)

The 8.1-meter Gemini North telescope on the summit of Maunakea in Hawai‘i captured this image of the Crystal Ball Nebula. It's about 1500 light-years away, and was discovered in 1790. It's a double-shell nebula and a binary pair of stars sits inside the delicate, gaseous shell. Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Image Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)

Planetary nebula are created when a dying star sheds it outer layers. The gas is lit up by the star and all the gorgeous, changing detail is exposed. NGC 1514, the Crystal Ball Nebula, is about 1500 light years away and contains a binary pair in its center. The orbits and winds from the stars create the Crystal Ball's beautiful form.



May 23, 2026 at 12:36AM
via read more...

Post a Comment

No comments

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )
Powered by Blogger.