Starship Asterisk*

Seems to be an eye, staring back at us. Or some [url=https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0702724] advanced civilization’s version[/url] of Webb.

If so, I’ll take [url=https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/what-see-through-telescope] two small ones[/url] please. Equipped with their version of [url=https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/webscope/activities/pdfs/eyeTelComp.pdf] glasses[/url]. :shock:

[attachment=0]Hourglass_HubblePathak_1080.jpg[/attachment]
Beautiful: This Nebula is almost perfect in symmetry! 8-)

[quote=AVAO post_id=334181 time=1696358198 user_id=144694]
Exciting picture. I find it interesting that the central star is almost not visible at today's APOD.
[/quote]

Not unusual, of course, with narrowband images. The hot central star isn't putting out much energy in these tiny slices of the visible spectrum.

[quote="APOD Robot" post_id=334178 time=1696306043 user_id=128559]
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231003.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_231003.jpg[/img] [size=150]MyCn 18: The Engraved Hourglass Planetary Nebula[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] Do you see the hourglass shape -- or does it see you? If you can picture it, the rings of [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engraved_Hourglass_Nebula]MyCn 18[/url] trace the outline of an hourglass -- although one with an unusual eye in its center. Either way, the sands of time are running out for the central star of this hourglass-shaped [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula]planetary nebula[/url]. With its [url=https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/game_changing_development/Nuclear_Thermal_Propulsion_Deep_Space_Exploration]nuclear fuel[/url] exhausted, this brief, spectacular, closing phase of a [url=https://science.nasa.gov/sun/]Sun[/url]-like [url=http://apod.pl/htmltest/gifcity/msblues.html]star's life[/url] occurs as its outer layers are ejected - its core becoming a cooling, fading [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000910.html]white dwarf[/url]. In 1995, astronomers used the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html]Hubble Space Telescope[/url] (HST) to make a series of images of [url=https://esahubble.org/wordbank/planetary-nebula/]planetary nebulae[/url], including the one featured here. Pictured, delicate rings of colorful glowing gas ([url=https://periodic.lanl.gov/7.shtml]nitrogen[/url]-red, [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFptgQ8GA_U]hydrogen[/url]-green, and [url=http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele008.html]oxygen[/url]-blue) outline the tenuous walls of the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hourglass]hourglass[/url]. The unprecedented sharpness of the Hubble images has revealed [url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018PASA...35...27M/abstract]surprising details[/url] of the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200630.html]nebula ejection process[/url] that are helping to resolve the outstanding mysteries of the [url=http://faculty.washington.edu/balick/pPNe/]complex shapes and symmetries of planetary nebulas[/url] like MyCn 18.


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[/quote]


Exciting picture. I find it interesting that the central star is almost not visible at today's APOD.


[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53231999256_40b975bc70_c.jpg[/img]
[size=75]jac berne (flickr)[/size]
[size=75]bigger: [url]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53231999256_48b57854d0_o.jpg[/url][/size]

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231003.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_231003.jpg[/img] [size=150]MyCn 18: The Engraved Hourglass Planetary Nebula[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] Do you see the hourglass shape -- or does it see you? If you can picture it, the rings of [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engraved_Hourglass_Nebula]MyCn 18[/url] trace the outline of an hourglass -- although one with an unusual eye in its center. Either way, the sands of time are running out for the central star of this hourglass-shaped [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula]planetary nebula[/url]. With its [url=https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/game_changing_development/Nuclear_Thermal_Propulsion_Deep_Space_Exploration]nuclear fuel[/url] exhausted, this brief, spectacular, closing phase of a [url=https://science.nasa.gov/sun/]Sun[/url]-like [url=http://apod.pl/htmltest/gifcity/msblues.html]star's life[/url] occurs as its outer layers are ejected - its core becoming a cooling, fading [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000910.html]white dwarf[/url]. In 1995, astronomers used the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html]Hubble Space Telescope[/url] (HST) to make a series of images of [url=https://esahubble.org/wordbank/planetary-nebula/]planetary nebulae[/url], including the one featured here. Pictured, delicate rings of colorful glowing gas ([url=https://periodic.lanl.gov/7.shtml]nitrogen[/url]-red, [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFptgQ8GA_U]hydrogen[/url]-green, and [url=http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele008.html]oxygen[/url]-blue) outline the tenuous walls of the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hourglass]hourglass[/url]. The unprecedented sharpness of the Hubble images has revealed [url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018PASA...35...27M/abstract]surprising details[/url] of the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200630.html]nebula ejection process[/url] that are helping to resolve the outstanding mysteries of the [url=http://faculty.washington.edu/balick/pPNe/]complex shapes and symmetries of planetary nebulas[/url] like MyCn 18.


[table][tr][td=left][url=https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=231002][b]<< Previous APOD[/b][/url][/td] [td=center][url=https://asterisk.apod.com/view_retro.php?date=1003][b]This Day in APOD[/b][/url][/td] [td=right][url=https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=231004][b]Next APOD >>[/b][/url][/td][/tr][/table]