A planetary Nebula divided

Eso_potw1550a_1024

eso_potw1550a December 14th, 2015

Credit: ESO

This fetching cloud of gas was imaged by the ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (EFOSC2) at ESO's La Silla Observatory. It can be found nestled in the busy constellation of Centaurus in the skies of the southern hemisphere. The cloud of gas — named NGC 3699 — is a planetary nebula, It is distinguished by an irregular mottled appearance and a dark rift, which roughly bisects it. These objects, despite the name, have nothing to do with planets and are created in the final stages of the evolution of stars similar in mass to the Sun. The name "planetary nebula" arises from the time of their discovery by William Herschel, when they appeared in the telescopes of the time as rounded objects similar in looks to the planets. Towards the end of their lives, stars like the Sun exhaust the supply of hydrogen in their cores, putting a stop to nuclear reactions. This causes the star's core to contract under the force of gravity and heat up, while the cooler outer layers expand tremendously — the surface of the Sun, for example, will likely engulf the orbit of Earth when it reaches this stage in its evolution. Unusually strong stellar winds push the gaseous outer layers of the star out into space, eventually exposing the core of the star, which begins to emit ultraviolet radiation, ionising the expelled gas, causing the nebula's ethereal glow, and producing beautiful and varied sights, such as the one in this image.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1550a/

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 Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 3699
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Planetary
Eso_potw1550a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 11h 27m 58.7s
DEC = -59° 57’ 11.1”
Orientation
North is 1.1° CW
Field of View
4.4 x 4.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Centaurus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Purple NTT (EFOSC) Ultraviolet (U) 365.0 nm
Cyan NTT (EFOSC) Optical (OIII) 500.0 nm
Blue NTT (EFOSC) Optical (B) 445.0 nm
Green NTT (EFOSC) Optical (V) 551.0 nm
Orange NTT (EFOSC) Optical (R) 658.0 nm
Red NTT (EFOSC) Optical (Ha) 656.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Purple
Cyan
Blue
Green
Orange
Red
Eso_potw1550a_1280
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ID
potw1550a
Subject Category
B.4.1.3  
Subject Name
NGC 3699
Credits
ESO
Release Date
2015-12-14T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1550a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
New Technology Telescope, New Technology Telescope, New Technology Telescope, New Technology Telescope, New Technology Telescope, New Technology Telescope
Instrument
EFOSC, EFOSC, EFOSC, EFOSC, EFOSC, EFOSC
Color Assignment
Purple, Cyan, Blue, Green, Orange, Red
Band
Ultraviolet, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
U, OIII, B, V, R, Ha
Central Wavelength
365, 500, 445, 551, 658, 656
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
171.99478672, -59.9530792544
Reference Dimension
846.0, 846.0
Reference Pixel
423.0, 423.0
Scale
-8.76304532826e-05, 8.76304532826e-05
Rotation
-1.0599999999999905
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
potw1550a
Metadata Date
2015-04-04T03:25:06+04:30
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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