by Ann » Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:26 am
This is a very beautiful picture of a truly fascinating part of the sky.
A lovely thing about today's APOD is that the photographer has used the blue-green OIII filter to such great effect. The star surrounded by the ethereal blue shell is HD 148937, a massive O-typ star which is on its way to becoming a Wolf-Rayet star. A Wolf-Rayet star is what you get when a massive O-type star
really starts blowing off its outer layers. The process is similar to a red giant blowing off its outer layers to become a white dwarf, surrounded by a planetary nebula.
The blue nebula surrounding HD 148937...
...is somewhat similar to a planetary nebula, and like a planetary nebula, its bluish color comes from doubly ionized oxygen.
Photo, HD 148937: Don Goldman.
Photo, Abell 39: George Jacoby.
The central star of a planetary nebula is every bit as hot as a Wolf-Rayet star, and it is typically hotter than a "normal" O-type star. The difference is that a Wolf-Rayet star is a lot more massive and luminous than a white dwarf, which is always very tiny. Wolf-Rayet stars are believed to end up as supernovae.
HD 148937 is one of the fantastic stars in today's APOD. But the star responsible for most of the ionization in this picture - the star responsible for "setting these masses of hydrogen gas aglow in red", as it were - is HD 150136, the blue star at 8 o'clock. HD 150136 is a very young O-type star, probably no more than one million years old. (By contrast, HD 148937 is on its way to saying good-bye to its status as an O-type star, so it must be several million years old.) Young HD 150136 may actually be an O3 star, which would make it a truly rare beast indeed. Off hand, I can only think or one other O3 star in our galaxy, HD 93128 in cluster Trumpler 14 near Eta Carina.
Trumper 14 and HD 93128, one of the true beasts of our galaxy. Photo by Rob Jeffries.
HD 150136 in today's APOD may be something almost similar to HD 93128.
Ann
This is a very beautiful picture of a truly fascinating part of the sky.
A lovely thing about today's APOD is that the photographer has used the blue-green OIII filter to such great effect. The star surrounded by the ethereal blue shell is HD 148937, a massive O-typ star which is on its way to becoming a Wolf-Rayet star. A Wolf-Rayet star is what you get when a massive O-type star [i]really[/i] starts blowing off its outer layers. The process is similar to a red giant blowing off its outer layers to become a white dwarf, surrounded by a planetary nebula.
[float=right][img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xBXZbW6ivIs/SgLyVWkGUjI/AAAAAAAAEG4/CTOTMS_CNFA/s400/ngc6164_goldman.jpg[/img][/float][b][color=#0080FF][size=150]The blue nebula surrounding HD 148937...[/size][/color][/b]
[float=left][img]http://www.wolaver.org/space/abell39nebula.jpg[/img][/float]
[b][size=150][color=#0080FF]...is somewhat similar to a planetary nebula, and like a planetary nebula, its bluish color comes from[/color] [color=#40BFBF]doubly ionized oxygen[/color][/size][/b].
[size=85]Photo, HD 148937: Don Goldman.
Photo, Abell 39: George Jacoby.[/size]
The central star of a planetary nebula is every bit as hot as a Wolf-Rayet star, and it is typically hotter than a "normal" O-type star. The difference is that a Wolf-Rayet star is a lot more massive and luminous than a white dwarf, which is always very tiny. Wolf-Rayet stars are believed to end up as supernovae.
HD 148937 is one of the fantastic stars in today's APOD. But the star responsible for most of the ionization in this picture - the star responsible for "setting these masses of hydrogen gas aglow in red", as it were - is HD 150136, the blue star at 8 o'clock. HD 150136 is a very young O-type star, probably no more than one million years old. (By contrast, HD 148937 is on its way to saying good-bye to its status as an O-type star, so it must be several million years old.) Young HD 150136 may actually be an O3 star, which would make it a truly rare beast indeed. Off hand, I can only think or one other O3 star in our galaxy, HD 93128 in cluster Trumpler 14 near Eta Carina.
[float=right][img2]http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/~rdj/images/Tr14small.jpg[/img2][/float]
[b][color=#0040FF][size=150]Trumper 14 and HD 93128, one of the true beasts of our galaxy.[/size][/color][/b] Photo by Rob Jeffries.
[b][size=150][color=#FF40BF] HD 150136 in today's APOD may be something almost similar to HD 93128.[/color][/size][/b]
Ann