Ants in space?

Esahubble_heic0101a_1024

esahubble_heic0101a February 1st, 2001

Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

From ground-based telescopes, the so-called "ant nebula" (Menzel 3, or Mz 3) resembles the head and thorax of a garden-variety ant. This dramatic NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, showing 10 times more detail, reveals the "ant's" body as a pair of fiery lobes protruding from a dying, Sun-like star. The Hubble images directly challenge old ideas about the last stages in the lives of stars. By observing Sun-like stars as they approach their deaths, the Hubble Heritage image of Mz 3 - along with pictures of other planetary nebulae - shows that our Sun's fate probably will be more interesting, complex, and striking than astronomers imagined just a few years ago.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0101a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Ant Nebula Menzel 3 PN Mz 3
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Planetary
Esahubble_heic0101a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 16h 17m 13.4s
DEC = -51° 59’ 10.1”
Orientation
North is 100.1° CW
Field of View
1.8 x 1.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Norma

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (Sii) 673.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (Nii) 658.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (H-alpha) 656.0 nm
Purple Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (Oiii) 502.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Purple
Esahubble_heic0101a_1280
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ID
heic0101a
Subject Category
B.4.1.3  
Subject Name
Ant Nebula, Menzel 3, PN Mz 3
Credits
NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Release Date
2001-02-01T15:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0101a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue, Purple
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
Sii, Nii, H-alpha, Oiii
Central Wavelength
673, 658, 656, 502
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
244.3056592, -51.9861385
Reference Dimension
1072.0, 708.0
Reference Pixel
537.0, 355.0
Scale
2.76812045725e-05, 2.74593724753e-05
Rotation
-100.1
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS info from NASA/Hubble
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
heic0101a
Metadata Date
2003-12-09T17:03:46+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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