Spitzer and Hubble View of the Helix Nebula

Spitzer_ssc2006-01b1_1024

spitzer_ssc2006-01b1 January 9th, 2006

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/J. Hora (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University)

Six hundred and fifty light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, a dead star about the size of Earth, is refusing to fade away peacefully. In death, it is spewing out massive amounts of hot gas and intense ultraviolet radiation, creating a spectacular object called a "planetary nebula."

In this false-color image, NASA's Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes have teamed up to capture the complex structure of the object, called the Helix nebula, in unprecedented detail. The composite picture is made up of visible data from Hubble and infrared data from Spitzer.

The dead star, called a white dwarf, can be seen at the center of the image as a white dot. All of the colorful gaseous material seen in the image was once part of the central star, but was lost in the death throes of the star on its way to becoming a white dwarf. The intense ultraviolet radiation being released by the white dwarf is heating and destabilizing the molecules in its surrounding environment, starting from the inside out.

Like an electric stovetop slowly heating up from the center first, the hottest and most unstable gas molecules can be seen at the center of the nebula as wisps of blue. The transition to more stable and cooler molecules is clearly depicted as the color of the gas changes from very hot (blue) to hot (yellow) and warm (red).

A striking feature of the Helix, first revealed by ground-based images, is its collection of thousands of filamentary structures, or strands of gas. In this image the filaments can be seen under the transparent blue gas as red lines radiating out from the center. Astronomers believe that the molecules in these filaments are able to stay cooler and more stable because dense clumps of materials are shielding them from ultraviolet radiation.

This image is a composite showing ionized H-alpha (green) and O III (blue) gases from the Hubble Space Telescope, and molecular hydrogen (red) from Spitzer observations at 4.5 and 8.0 microns.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/1535-ssc2006-01b1-Spitzer-and-Hubble-View-of-the-Helix-Nebula

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Helix Nebula NGC 7293
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Planetary

Distance

Universescale1
650 light years
Spitzer_ssc2006-01b1_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 22h 29m 33.3s
DEC = -20° 48’ 13.5”
Orientation
North is 61.0° CW
Field of View
20.8 x 23.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Aquarius

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (O-III) 500.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (H-alpha) 656.0 nm
Red Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Near-Infrared) 4.5 µm
Red Spitzer (IRAC) Infrared (Mid-Infrared) 8.0 µm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Red
Red
Spitzer_ssc2006-01b1_1280
×
ID
ssc2006-01b1
Subject Category
B.4.1.3.  
Subject Name
Helix Nebula, NGC 7293
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/J. Hora (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University)
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Distance taken from Fast Facts.
Facility
Hubble, Hubble, Spitzer, Spitzer
Instrument
ACS, ACS, IRAC, IRAC
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
O-III, H-alpha, Near-Infrared, Mid-Infrared
Central Wavelength
500, 656, 4500, 8000
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
337.38887192463335, -20.803754731422647
Reference Dimension
3125, 3497
Reference Pixel
1562.5, 1748.5
Scale
-0.00011111670280222036, 0.00011111670280222036
Rotation
-60.9694759806
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
Spitzer Space Telescope
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy
Publisher
Spitzer Science Center
Publisher ID
spitzer
Resource ID
ssc2006-01b1.tif
Metadata Date
2012-03-21
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
650 light years

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