Hubble watches a celestial prologue

Esahubble_potw1123a_1024

esahubble_potw1123a June 6th, 2011

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

The two billowing structures in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of IRAS 13208-6020 are formed from material that is shed by a central star. This is a relatively short-lived phenomenon that gives astronomers an opportunity to watch the early stages of planetary nebula formation, hence the name protoplanetary, or preplanetary nebula. Planetary nebulae are unrelated to planets and the name arose because of the visual similarity between some planetary nebulae and the small discs of the outer planets in the Solar System when viewed through early telescopes. This object has a very clear bipolar form, with two very similar outflows of material in opposite directions and a dusty ring around the star. Protoplanetary nebulae do not shine, but are illuminated by light from the central star that is reflected back to us. But as the star continues to evolve, it becomes hot enough to emit strong ultraviolet radiation that can ionise the surrounding gas, making it glow as a spectacular planetary nebula. But before the nebula begins to shine, fierce winds of material ejected from the star will continue to shape the surrounding gas into intricate patterns that can only be truly appreciated later once the nebula begins to glow. This picture was created from images taken using the High Resolution Channel of Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images taken through an orange filter (F606W, coloured blue) and a near-infrared filter (F814W, coloured red) have been combined to create this picture. The exposure times were 1130 s and 150 s respectively and the field of view is just 22 x 17 arcseconds.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1123a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
IRAS 13208-6020
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Planetary
Esahubble_potw1123a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 13h 24m 4.2s
DEC = -60° 36’ 29.3”
Orientation
North is 18.3° CW
Field of View
0.4 x 0.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Centaurus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) -
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (Pseudogreen (V+I)) -
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) -
Esahubble_potw1123a_1280
×
ID
potw1123a
Subject Category
B.4.1.3  
Subject Name
IRAS 13208-6020
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date
2011-06-06T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1123a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, Pseudogreen (V+I), V
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
201.017637968, -60.6081469431
Reference Dimension
898.0, 685.0
Reference Pixel
449.0, 342.0
Scale
-6.94981408255e-06, 6.94981408255e-06
Rotation
-18.300000000000139
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
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
potw1123a
Metadata Date
2011-02-10T13:39:11+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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