Image of the planetary nebula Henize 2-428 from the Very Large Telescope

Eso_eso1505b_1024

eso_eso1505b February 9th, 2015

Credit: ESO

This image of the unusual planetary nebula was obtained using ESO’s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. In the heart of this colourful nebula lies a unique object consisting of two white dwarf stars, each with a mass a little less than that of the Sun. These stars are expected to slowly draw closer to each other and merge in around 700 million years. This event will create a dazzling supernova of Type Ia and destroy both stars.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1505b/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Hen 2-428 • Henize 2-428
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Planetary
Eso_eso1505b_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 19h 13m 5.4s
DEC = 15° 46’ 42.4”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
4.8 x 3.9 arcminutes
Constellation
Aquila

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red VLT (FORS2) Optical (H-alpha) 656.0 nm
Green VLT (FORS2) Optical ([OIII]) 500.0 nm
Blue VLT (FORS2) Optical ([OIII]/3000) 504.5 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Eso_eso1505b_1280
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ID
eso1505b
Subject Category
B.4.1.3  
Subject Name
Hen 2-428, Henize 2-428
Credits
ESO
Release Date
2015-02-09T17:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1505b/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS2, FORS2, FORS2
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
H-alpha, [OIII], [OIII]/3000
Central Wavelength
656, 500, 504.5
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
288.272421638, 15.778440872
Reference Dimension
2278.0, 1834.0
Reference Pixel
1139.0, 917.0
Scale
-3.50097822462e-05, 3.50097822462e-05
Rotation
0.039999999999999994
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.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
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso1505b
Resource URL
https://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/original/eso1505b.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2015-02-02T10:59:53+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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NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The award is part of NASA’s Science Activation program, which strives to further enable NASA science experts and content into the learning environment more effectively and efficiently with learners of all ages.