A Beautiful End to a Star's Life

Chandra_544_1024

chandra_544 July 11th, 2013

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/IAA-CSIC/N.Ruiz et al, Optical: NASA/STScI

When a star like our Sun uses up all of the hydrogen in its core, it becomes what is called a "planetary nebula." During this stage, the star begins to cool and expand, increasing its radius by tens to hundreds of times its original size. Eventually, the outer layers of the star are swept away by a slow and thick wind, leaving behind a hot core. The radiation from the hot star and the interaction of its fast wind with the slower wind creates the complex and filamentary shell of a planetary nebula. This composite image of NGC 2392 contains X-ray data from Chandra in pink showing the location of million-degree gas near the center of the planetary nebula. Data from the Hubble Space Telescope - colored red, green, and blue - show the intricate pattern of the outer layers of the star that have been ejected.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/ngc2392/

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 2392
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Planetary

Distance

Universescale1
4,200 light years
Chandra_544_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 7h 29m 10.8s
DEC = 20° 54’ 43.1”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
1.0 x 1.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Gemini

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (NII) 658.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (H-alpha) 656.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (OIII) 502.0 nm
Magenta Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Red
Green
Blue
Magenta
Chandra_544_1280
×
ID
544
Subject Category
B.4.1.3  
Subject Name
NGC 2392
Credits
X-ray: NASA/CXC/IAA-CSIC/N.Ruiz et al, Optical: NASA/STScI
Release Date
2013-07-11
Lightyears
4,200
Redshift
4,200
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/ngc2392/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble, Hubble, Hubble, Chandra
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2, ACIS
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue, Magenta
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, X-ray
Bandpass
NII, H-alpha, OIII, X-ray
Central Wavelength
658, 656, 502, 0.8267
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
112.2949281, 20.9119798
Reference Dimension
3600.0, 3600.0
Reference Pixel
1801.0, 1801.0
Scale
4.65379e-06, 4.6537923e-06
Rotation
0.01
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 Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
ngc2392.tif
Metadata Date
2013-07-12T11:49:55-04:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
4,200 light years

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