X-ray View of a Young Planetary Nebula

Chandra_163_1024

chandra_163 June 13th, 2001

Credit: NASA/RIT/J.Kastner et al.

Chandra's image of NGC 7027 represents the first detection of X-rays from this young planetary nebula that is about 700 years old. A bubble of 3 million degree Celsius gas with a length about a hundred times that of our solar system is shown in the image. The image is brighter to the upper right, the side of the nebula nearest the Earth where there is less obscuring material to block the X-ray emission. NGC 7027 is the remains of a Sun-like star that has ejected much of its mass to expose its hot core. The X-rays are thought to be produced when a "fast" wind from the hot core collides with the "slow" wind that was ejected earlier during the star's red giant phase. This collision heats the matter to several million degrees so that it glows in X-rays.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2001/1252/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 7027

Distance

Universescale1
3,000 light years
Chandra_163_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 21h 7m 1.7s
DEC = 42° 14’ 9.5”
Orientation
North is 5.4° CCW
Field of View
0.4 x 0.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Cygnus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Red
Chandra_163_1280
×
ID
163
Subject Category
Subject Name
NGC 7027
Credits
NASA/RIT/J.Kastner et al.
Release Date
2001-06-13
Lightyears
3,000
Redshift
3,000
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2001/1252/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra
Instrument
ACIS
Color Assignment
Red
Band
X-ray
Bandpass
X-ray
Central Wavelength
0.8267
Start Time
2000-06-01T03:16:37
Integration Time
18000
Dataset ID
588
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
316.7570550, 42.2359696
Reference Dimension
1872.0, 1833.0
Reference Pixel
937.0, 917.5
Scale
3.4581e-06, 3.4580961e-06
Rotation
5.38
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS retrieved using CXCs PinpointWCS
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-Ray Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
1252_xray.tif
Metadata Date
2011-07-13
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
3,000 light years

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