File:Comets Kick up Dust in Helix Nebula (PIA09178).jpg

Summary

Description

English: This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Helix Nebula, a cosmic starlet often photographed by amateur astronomers for its vivid colors and eerie resemblance to a giant eye.

The nebula, located about 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, belongs to a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these colorful beauties were named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets like Jupiter.

Planetary nebulae are the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun. When sun-like stars die, they puff out their outer gaseous layers. These layers are heated by the hot core of the dead star, called a white dwarf, and shine with infrared and visible colors. Our own sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about five billion years.

In Spitzer's infrared view of the Helix nebula, the eye looks more like that of a green monster's. Infrared light from the outer gaseous layers is represented in blues and greens. The white dwarf is visible as a tiny white dot in the center of the picture. The red color in the middle of the eye denotes the final layers of gas blown out when the star died.

The brighter red circle in the very center is the glow of a dusty disk circling the white dwarf (the disk itself is too small to be resolved). This dust, discovered by Spitzer's infrared heat-seeking vision, was most likely kicked up by comets that survived the death of their star. Before the star died, its comets and possibly planets would have orbited the star in an orderly fashion. But when the star blew off its outer layers, the icy bodies and outer planets would have been tossed about and into each other, resulting in an ongoing cosmic dust storm. Any inner planets in the system would have burned up or been swallowed as their dying star expanded.

So far, the Helix nebula is one of only a few dead-star systems in which evidence for comet survivors has been found.

This image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue shows infrared light of 3.6 to 4.5 microns; green shows infrared light of 5.8 to 8 microns; and red shows infrared light of 24 microns.

Français : Image infrarouge de la nébuleuse de l'hélice prise par le télescope spatial Spitzer de la NASA.

La nébuleuse de l'hélice est un grand classique de la photographie astronomique amateur à cause de ses belles couleurs et de sa ressemblance à un œil géant. Cet objet situé dans la constellation des poissons est appelé une nébuleuse planétaire. Découvertes au cours du XVIIIe siècle, les nébuleuses planétaires doivent leur nom à leur ressemblance avec des planètes géantes gazeuses comme Jupiter. Cependant, leur formation est toute différente: lorsqu'une étoile de la taille du Soleil arrive au terme de sa vie, elle expulse ses couches extérieures dans l'espace environnant. Ce gaz est chauffé par ce qui reste du cœur de l'étoile, une naine blanche, et brille de couleurs visibles et infrarouges. Notre Soleil formera une telle nébuleuse planétaire dans cinq milliards d'années environ.

Dans l'image prise par Spitzer, l'œil qui nous regarde semble appartenir à un monstre vert. Le vert et le bleu correspond aux couches gazeuses les plus externes. La naine blanche est visible comme un petit point blanc au centre de l'image. Le rouge correspond aux dernières couches gazeuses expulsées par l'étoile.

La petite zone rouge autour de l'étoile correspondrait à de la lumière émise par un disque de poussières (lui même trop petit pour être vu). Cette poussière proviendrait de comètes ayant survécu à la mort violente de leur étoile. La nébuleuse de l'hélice est l'une des seules ou de telles comètes semblent exister. Lorsque cette étoile s'est transformée en géante rouge, les planètes les plus internes ont été absorbées. Lorsqu'elle a éjecté ses couches extérieures, les autres planètes gravitant autour d'elle ont probablement été détruites, et la survie de comètes est en soi difficile à expliquer.

Cette image a été réalisée à partir de données obtenues par la caméra infrarouge de Spitzer et son photomètre multifréquence. Le bleu correspond à des longueurs d'ondes de 3,6 à 4,5 microns, le vert de 5,8 à 8 microns, et le rouge a des longueurs d'ondes de 24 microns.

Українська: Дане інфрачервоне зображення Туманності Равлик, отримане космічним телескопом НАСА Спітцером, завдяки своїм яскравим кольорам нагадує гігантське око. Ця туманність розташована на відстані біля 700 світлових років від Землі у напрямку сузір'я Водолій й належить до класу планетарних туманностей. Вона була відкрита у 18 столітті.

فارسی: تصویر سحابی هلیکس در نور مرئی گرفته شده توسط تلسکوپ فضایی هابل در سال ۲۰۰۴ میلادی

Date

12 February 2007

Source

NASA - Comets Kick up Dust in Helix Nebula

Author

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Ariz.

Permission
(Reusing this file)

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	Warnings: Use of NASA logos, insignia and emblems is restricted per U.S. law 14 CFR 1221. The NASA website hosts a large number of images from the Soviet/Russian space agency, and other non-American space agencies. These are not necessarily in the public domain. Materials based on Hubble Space Telescope data may be copyrighted if they are not explicitly produced by the STScI.[1] See also {{PD-Hubble}} and {{Cc-Hubble}}. The SOHO (ESA & NASA) joint project implies that all materials created by its probe are copyrighted and require permission for commercial non-educational use. [2] Images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site may be copyrighted. [3] The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) site has been known to host copyrighted content. Its photo gallery FAQ states that all of the images in the photo gallery are in the public domain "Unless otherwise noted."

Picture of the year
	This file was a candidate in Picture of the Year 2007. This is a featured picture on Wikimedia Commons (Featured pictures) and is considered one of the finest images. See its nomination here. With an aspect ratio of 4:3 or 5:4, this image is suitable as a computer wallpaper (see gallery). This is a featured picture on the English language Wikipedia (Featured pictures) and is considered one of the finest images. See its nomination here. This is a featured picture on the Persian language Wikipedia (نگاره‌های برگزیده) and is considered one of the finest images. See its nomination here. If you have an image of similar quality that can be published under a suitable copyright license, be sure to upload it, tag it, and nominate it.

This image was selected as picture of the day on Wikimedia Commons for 15 May 2007. It was captioned as follows:

English: Helix Nebula

Other languages:

Čeština: Planetární mlhovina Helix

Deutsch: Helixnebel, NGC 7293

English: Helix Nebula

Español: Nebulosa Helix (NGC 7293).

Esperanto: La planeduma nebulozo Helico (NGC 7293).

Français : La nébuleuse de l'Hélice (NGC 7293).

Italiano: La nebulosa Elica (NGC 7293)

Magyar: A Csiga-köd

Nederlands: Helixnevel (NGC 7293)

Polski: Mgławica Helix (NGC 7293)

Português: Imagem da Nebulosa de Helix. (NGC 7293)

Română: Nebuloasa Helix

Slovenčina: Hmlovina Slimák (NGC 7293)

Svenska: Helixnebulosan, NGC 7293

Беларуская: Планетарная туманнасць Слімак (NGC 7293)

Русский: Туманность Улитка

Српски / srpski: Хеликс Небула

日本語：せん状星雲 (NGC 7293)

中文：斯必泽空间望远镜拍摄的螺旋星云红外影象

中文（繁體）：從史匹哲太空望遠鏡拍攝到的螺旋星雲的紅外線影像

Image title	This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Helix nebula, a cosmic starlet often photographed by amateur astronomers for its vivid colors and eerie resemblance to a giant eye. The nebula, located about 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, belongs to a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic butterflies were named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets. Planetary nebulae are actually the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun. When sun-like stars die, they puff out their outer gaseous layers. These layers are heated by the hot core of the dead star, called a white dwarf, and shine with infrared and visible-light colors. Our own sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about five billion years. In Spitzer's infrared view of the Helix nebula, the eye looks more like that of a green monster's. Infrared light from the outer gaseous layers is represented in blues and greens. The white dwarf is visible as a tiny white dot in the center of the picture. The red color in the middle of the eye denotes the final layers of gas blown out when the star died. The brighter red circle in the very center is the glow of a dusty disk circling the white dwarf (the disk itself is too small to be resolved). This dust, discovered by Spitzer's infrared heat-seeking vision, was most likely kicked up by comets that survived the death of their star. Before the star died, its comets and possibly planets would have orbited the star in an orderly fashion. But when the star blew off its outer layers, the icy bodies and outer planets would have been tossed about and into each other, resulting in an ongoing cosmic dust storm. Any inner planets in the system would have burned up or been swallowed as their dying star expanded. The Helix nebula is one of only a few dead-star systems in which evidence for comet survivors has been found. This image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue shows infrared light of 3.6 to 4.5 microns; green shows infrared light of 5.8 to 8 microns; and red shows infrared light of 24 microns.
Source	Spitzer Space Telescope
Credit/Provider	NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Su (University of Arizona)
Headline	Comets Kick Up Dust in Helix Nebula
Online copyright statement	http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/mediaimages/copyright.shtml
Usage terms	Public Domain
Date and time of data generation	12 February 2007
Orientation	Normal
Horizontal resolution	72 dpi
Vertical resolution	72 dpi
Software used	Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
File change date and time	15:05, 9 February 2007
Color space	sRGB
Width	4,279 px
Height	3,559 px
Bits per component	8 8 8
Pixel composition	RGB
Number of components	3
Image width	4,279 px
Image height	3,559 px
Date and time of digitizing	07:05, 9 February 2007
Date metadata was last modified	07:05, 9 February 2007
Keywords	Helix Nebula NGC7293
Contact information	1200 E. California Blvd. Pasadena, CA, 91125 USA
IIM version	2

File:Comets Kick up Dust in Helix Nebula (PIA09178).jpg

Summary

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Helix Nebula

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Wikimedia Commons featured picture

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12 February 2007

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image/jpeg

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37c8aef3066838935371e047b0ce6a42fab75322

data size

7,573,824 byte

height

3,559 pixel

width

4,279 pixel

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