From Cosmic Spare Tyre to Ethereal Blossom

IC 5148 is a beautiful planetary nebula located some 3000 light-years away in the constellation of Grus (The Crane). The nebula has a diameter of a couple of light-years, and it is still growing at over 50 kilometres per second — one of the fastest expanding planetary nebulae known. The term “planetary nebula” arose in the 19th century, when the first observations of such objects — through the small telescopes available at the time — looked somewhat like giant planets. However, the true nature of planetary nebulae is quite different.

When a star with a mass similar to or a few times more than that of our Sun approaches the end of its life, its outer layers are thrown off into space. The expanding gas is illuminated by the hot remaining core of the star at the centre, forming the planetary nebula, which often takes on a beautiful, glowing shape. 

When observed with a smaller amateur telescope, this particular planetary nebula shows up as a ring of material, with the star — which will cool to become a white dwarf — shining in the middle of the central hole. This appearance led astronomers to nickname IC 5148 the Spare Tyre Nebula.

The ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (EFOSC2) on the New Technology Telescope at La Silla gives a somewhat more elegant view of this object. Rather than looking like a spare tyre, the nebula resembles ethereal blossom with layered petals.

Kredit:

ESO

O snímku

Id:potw1242a
Typ:Pozorování
Datum zveřejnění:15. října 2012 10:00
Velikost:1042 x 1041 px

O objektu

Jméno:IC 5148
Typ:Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary
Vzdálenost:3000 světelné roky
Constellation:Grus
Kategorie:Nebulae

Image Formats

největší JPEG
309,7 KB

Zvětšovatelný


Pozadí

1024x768
246,4 KB
1280x1024
329,2 KB
1600x1200
487,5 KB
1920x1200
580,1 KB
2048x1536
770,7 KB

Souřadnice

Position (RA):21 59 35.21
Position (Dec):-39° 23' 8.15"
Field of view:4.18 x 4.18 arcminutes
Orientace:Sever je 0.9° levá od svislé osy