Comments and questions about the
APOD on the main view screen.
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Boomer12k
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by Boomer12k » Sun Jun 07, 2015 4:19 am
Is this seen "End on"?
Quite a large, and lovely image.
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Saddlesore
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by Saddlesore » Sun Jun 07, 2015 8:38 am
Those dust filaments look a bit like a saddle shape seen from an odd angle. A spinni g, precessing object could eaily throw off a shape like that. Don't know about the Y-shaped part though.
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djcuddlefish
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by djcuddlefish » Sun Jun 07, 2015 9:37 am
curious, if we were to compare this planetary nebula to our own solar system extending out into interstellar space... about how big would it be?
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starsurfer
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by starsurfer » Sun Jun 07, 2015 11:35 am
Planetary nebulae exhibit unexpectedly complex structures and morphologies, which aren't fully understood yet. Hopefully the next generation of telescopes and observatories will be able to provide some more answers. Also
this image by CHART32 shows NGC 3132 in a more "natural" colour scheme.
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KSDOGRA
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by KSDOGRA » Sun Jun 07, 2015 12:54 pm
djcuddlefish wrote:curious, if we were to compare this planetary nebula to our own solar system extending out into interstellar space... about how big would it be?
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Ann
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by Ann » Sun Jun 07, 2015 1:19 pm
Thank you, starsurfer!
Ann
Color Commentator
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tmulcahy
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by tmulcahy » Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:02 pm
This is an amazing photo. It has a depth to it that draws me in. I feel like I'm having an x-ray view inside a solid object, but in 3-D. I want to go inside and look around.
"You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions." - Naguib Mahfouz
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sunlight
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by sunlight » Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:17 pm
Could it be that the line(s) of dust be planets that were around the star blown to dust? Or let me put it another way: what would happen to "our" planets if tomorrow the sun becomes supernova?
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sunlight
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by sunlight » Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:21 pm
Could it be that the line(s) of dust be planets that were around the star blown to dust? Or let me put it another way: what would happen to "our" planets if tomorrow the sun becomes supernova?
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Zach
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by Zach » Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:28 pm
Whenever I see a photo of a planetary nebula I always come up with the same question.
Is there any way to determine if the geometry presented in the photo is unique to our view (from Earth) or is it the case if you could 'swing-around' the planetary nebula to some other viewing angle you would get a similar view?
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Chris Peterson
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by Chris Peterson » Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:32 pm
sunlight wrote:Could it be that the line(s) of dust be planets that were around the star blown to dust? Or let me put it another way: what would happen to "our" planets if tomorrow the sun becomes supernova?
These are actually gentle events. The shell of material blowing off the star is very rarefied and has a low energy density. It would blow past any planets with virtually no effect on them at all.
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Chris Peterson
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by Chris Peterson » Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:34 pm
Zach wrote:Whenever I see a photo of a planetary nebula I always come up with the same question.
Is there any way to determine if the geometry presented in the photo is unique to our view (from Earth) or is it the case if you could 'swing-around' the planetary nebula to some other viewing angle you would get a similar view?
Only a few planetary nebula appear to be highly symmetrical. Most have specific axes of symmetry, and therefore appear very different depending on the direction they are viewed from. For instance, common shapes such as tubes and hourglasses appear as bubbles or rings when viewed end-on.
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BMAONE23
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by BMAONE23 » Sun Jun 07, 2015 5:08 pm
djcuddlefish wrote:curious, if we were to compare this planetary nebula to our own solar system extending out into interstellar space... about how big would it be?
Our solar system, out to Pluto, is measured in terms of AU but can be expressed as Light Hours. Pluto is approximately 39AU or 5.5 light hours away. 4 times the distance to Pluto would be 156AU or 1 light day. This nebula has an appropriate diameter of 0.4ly or 144 light days, about 576 times the distance to Pluto but would still fall within the proposed boundary of the Oort Cloud shell surrounding our own solar system
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starsurfer
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by starsurfer » Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:44 pm
Zach wrote:Whenever I see a photo of a planetary nebula I always come up with the same question.
Is there any way to determine if the geometry presented in the photo is unique to our view (from Earth) or is it the case if you could 'swing-around' the planetary nebula to some other viewing angle you would get a similar view?
We get a limited 2D view from our point of view from Earth of a 3D object. A real world analogy, say you're facing a building, the only part visible to you is the front but you can't see what it looks like from behind from where you're standing.