Chandra Discovers Elusive "Hot Bubble" in Planetary Nebula

Chandra_202_1024

chandra_202 June 6th, 2000

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

The Chandra image of the planetary nebula BD+30 3639 shows a hot bubble of 3 million degree Celsius gas surrounding a dying, Sun-like star. The distance across the bubble is roughly 100 times the diameter of our solar system. A planetary nebula is formed when a dying red giant star puffs off its outer layer, leaving behind a hot core that will eventually collapse to form a dense star called a white dwarf. The hot bubble is thought to be due to the collision of a two million mile per hour wind from the hot core with the ejected red giant atmosphere. We are seeing the nebula about a thousand years after it formed. The odd shape of the bubble is not yet understood.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2000/pne/

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
BD+30-3639

Distance

Universescale1
5,000 light years
Chandra_202_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 19h 34m 45.1s
DEC = 30° 30’ 58.6”
Orientation
North is 4.1° CW
Field of View
0.8 x 0.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Cygnus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
DatasetID is the Chandra Observation ID
Spectrum_xray1
Orange
Chandra_202_1280
×
ID
202
Subject Category
Subject Name
BD+30-3639
Credits
NASA/RIT/J.Kastner et al.
Release Date
2000-06-06
Lightyears
5,000
Redshift
5,000
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2000/pne/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra
Instrument
ACIS
Color Assignment
Orange
Band
X-ray
Bandpass
X-ray
Central Wavelength
0.8267
Start Time
2000-03-21T01:52:40
Integration Time
18972
Dataset ID
587
Notes
D
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
293.6878168, 30.5162847
Reference Dimension
2400.0, 2392.0
Reference Pixel
1201.0, 1197.0
Scale
5.22293e-06, 5.2229301e-06
Rotation
-4.11
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
pne_xray.tif
Metadata Date
2011-02-11
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
5,000 light years

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