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
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