APOD: WR 134 Ring Nebula (2023 May 18)

[APOD Robot]

WR 134 Ring Nebula

Explanation: Made with narrowband filters, this cosmic snapshot covers a field of view about the size of the full Moon within the boundaries of the constellation Cygnus. It highlights the bright edge of a ring-like nebula traced by the glow of ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen gas. Embedded in the region's interstellar clouds of gas and dust, the complex, glowing arcs are sections of bubbles or shells of material swept up by the wind from Wolf-Rayet star WR 134, brightest star near the center of the frame. Distance estimates put WR 134 about 6,000 light-years away, making the frame over 50 light-years across. Shedding their outer envelopes in powerful stellar winds, massive Wolf-Rayet stars have burned through their nuclear fuel at a prodigious rate and end this final phase of massive star evolution in a spectacular supernova explosion. The stellar winds and final supernovae enrich the interstellar material with heavy elements to be incorporated in future generations of stars.

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[Rauf]

Is it just me or does that star look green??

[Sa Ji Tario]

looks green

[orin stepanek]

Kind of nice; they have the Ring Nebula on my wife's and
my 60th wedding anniversary! How cool is that?

!
The central star in the Ring; Wolf-Rayet star WR 134!

[MelvzLuster]

Great & wonderful, we need our indestructible starship USS Victory NCC 1967 to explore these regions of space and I'm volunteering to build it for NASA & ESA! Try Me & Get Me!

[Ann]

Is it just me or does that star look green??

I agree with you that the star looks green. There are also other stars, albeit fainter ones, that also look green.

Stars don't look green to our eyes. The reason for this is that the Sun is green, in that its energy output peaks in the green (or rather blue-green) part of the spectrum.

Even so the Sun does not look green to our eyes, but instead it looks white or pale yellow. And in the same way that the Sun doesn't look green to our eyes, other stars whose light output peaks in the green part of the spectrum don't look green, either. But indeed, some stars in the APOD do look green.

Bear in mind that the APOD is a narrowband image. Such pictures often do a relatively bad job at rendering star colors accurately. Admittedly, the most typical problem with star colors in narrowband images has been that so many stars look pink or purple.

Pink stars in the original narrowband 'Pillars of Creation' picture by Hubble.

---

Ann

[Chris Peterson]

Is it just me or does that star look green??

I agree with you that the star looks green. There are also other stars, albeit fainter ones, that also look green.

Stars don't look green to our eyes. The reason for this is that the Sun is green, in that its energy output peaks in the green (or rather blue-green) part of the spectrum.

Even so the Sun does not look green to our eyes, but instead it looks white or pale yellow. And in the same way that the Sun doesn't look green to our eyes, other stars whose light output peaks in the green part of the spectrum don't look green, either. But indeed, some stars in the APOD do look green.

Bear in mind that the APOD is a narrowband image. Such pictures often do a relatively bad job at rendering star colors accurately. Admittedly, the most typical problem with star colors in narrowband images has been that so many stars look pink or purple.

Pink stars in the original narrowband 'Pillars of Creation' picture by Hubble.

---

Ann

Arguably, that is not a "problem". Purple is an accurate representation of how stars look in those bands!

[johnnydeep]

I get the impression from the text that this Ring Nebula is somewhere in the wider view that also shows the Crescent Nebula, which is the small circular feature near the top of the linked to APOD image (below, and also at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220609.html). But where is the Ring Nebula in this wider view?

Click to view full size image

[Rauf]

Is it just me or does that star look green??

I agree with you that the star looks green. There are also other stars, albeit fainter ones, that also look green.

Stars don't look green to our eyes. The reason for this is that the Sun is green, in that its energy output peaks in the green (or rather blue-green) part of the spectrum.

Even so the Sun does not look green to our eyes, but instead it looks white or pale yellow. And in the same way that the Sun doesn't look green to our eyes, other stars whose light output peaks in the green part of the spectrum don't look green, either. But indeed, some stars in the APOD do look green.

Bear in mind that the APOD is a narrowband image. Such pictures often do a relatively bad job at rendering star colors accurately. Admittedly, the most typical problem with star colors in narrowband images has been that so many stars look pink or purple.

Pink stars in the original narrowband 'Pillars of Creation' picture by Hubble.

---

Ann

I see. Thanks for the explanation Ann!

[Rauf]

WR134SHO_1024.jpg
Kind of nice; they have the Ring Nebula on my wife's and
my 60th wedding anniversary! How cool is that?
WR124_Webb1024.png!
The central star in the Ring; Wolf-Rayet star WR 134!

Congratulations, living together for 60 years? You've done something not many people are able to.

[orin stepanek]

WR134SHO_1024.jpg
Kind of nice; they have the Ring Nebula on my wife's and
my 60th wedding anniversary! How cool is that?
WR124_Webb1024.png!
The central star in the Ring; Wolf-Rayet star WR 134!

Congratulations, living together for 60 years? You've done something not many people are able to.

Thanks; We make a good team!

[Ann]

WR134SHO_1024.jpg
Kind of nice; they have the Ring Nebula on my wife's and
my 60th wedding anniversary! How cool is that?
WR124_Webb1024.png!
The central star in the Ring; Wolf-Rayet star WR 134!

Congratulations, Orin, I didn't notice this until now!

Ann

[AVAO]

I get the impression from the text that this Ring Nebula is somewhere in the wider view that also shows the Crescent Nebula, which is the small circular feature near the top of the linked to APOD image (below, and also at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220609.html). But where is the Ring Nebula in this wider view?

Click to view full size image

WR134 is actually quite close to the Cygnus Loop and also shares similarities with WR 124 as shown in the post from Orin.

DSS2 cutout with of today's APOD as an infill:

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

bigger:https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/529 ... 34c7_o.jpg

[orin stepanek]

I wasd just surprised about the coincidence!

[VictorBorun]

I get the impression from the text that this Ring Nebula is somewhere in the wider view that also shows the Crescent Nebula, which is the small circular feature near the top of the linked to APOD image (below, and also at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220609.html). But where is the Ring Nebula in this wider view?

Click to view full size image

WR134 is actually quite close to the Cygnus Loop and also shares similarities with WR 124 as shown in the post from Orin.

DSS2 cutout with of today's APOD as an infill:

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

bigger:https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/529 ... 34c7_o.jpg

This infill is rather APOD 2022 June 9 than APOD 2023 May 18

[VictorBorun]

what exactly is WR 134, brightest star near the center of the frame I still don't get

[VictorBorun]

red is sulfur, orange is hydrogen and blue is oxygen.
Let me check if it's in the order of exciting photons' energy…

They weight most

sulfur S II 671.829 and 673.267 nm
hydrogen Hα 656.461 nm
oxygen O III 496.0295 and 500.8240 nm

So the palette order is true to nature

[johnnydeep]

I get the impression from the text that this Ring Nebula is somewhere in the wider view that also shows the Crescent Nebula, which is the small circular feature near the top of the linked to APOD image (below, and also at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220609.html). But where is the Ring Nebula in this wider view?

Click to view full size image

WR134 is actually quite close to the Cygnus Loop and also shares similarities with WR 124 as shown in the post from Orin.

DSS2 cutout with of today's APOD as an infill:

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

bigger:https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/529 ... 34c7_o.jpg

Thanks, but I'm still not seeing today's APOD in your pics.

[johnnydeep]

what exactly is WR 134, brightest star near the center of the frame I still don't get

Googling other references and pics, I assume WR 134 is this one:

[VictorBorun]

what exactly is WR 134, brightest star near the center of the frame I still don't get

Googling other references and pics, I assume WR 134 is this one:


wr134location.png

thanks! Without other evidence on a WR star, with only this APOD to look at, I thought the comet-like tails direct to a point to the left of this star