Understanding the structure of planetary nebulae can help us understand the distribution of the gas and dust that eventually is used not only in star formation, but in the formation of solar systems such as ours. Planetary nebulae help distribute many elements back to the interstellar medium (the gas and dust that exists between stars). In many ways, it’s actually very similar to that new VISTA image! The image above, of the Helix in a specific band of the infrared, was one of the images that I used in my research. We chose a number of nebulae of different ages, with the intention of comparing the visible and infrared images for all of them. We wanted to know more about these clumps, and how they changed with the age of the planetary nebula. Since we would expect all of the gas at that point to be ionized by the heat of the star, it was an interesting phenomenon to study. If we look at an image of the Helix Nebula in infrared light, we can look past the dust that is opaque in visible light, and see pockets of molecular hydrogen that correspond to these knots. In the image above, you can see interesting knot-like filaments. Angela Speck (which has progressed much further in the years since I left University of Missouri), was looking specifically at the inner rim of the Helix’s gas ring. Sarah: The research that I participated in with my advisor, Dr. Sara: What did you study about the Helix? We think it’s a decent representative of the shape and structure of planetary nebulae in general.Ĭredit: NASA/NOAO/ESA/Hubble Helix Nebula Team/M. Sarah: It’s one of the most easily observable planetary nebulae, because it’s one of the closest to Earth (about 700 light-years away, visible in the constellation Aquarius). Sara: Why do so many people study the Helix? Why do so many telescopes and satellites look at it? That’s why you see that ring-like shape in many planetary nebulae.
After a star has gone through its life, it sheds its outer layers of material, and it’s still hot enough to ionize that gas as it drifts off into space. A planetary nebula has nothing to do with planets (that’s a historical name) – it’s actually the final stage of evolution for intermediate-mass stars (like our Sun).
Sarah: It’s a very pretty planetary nebula that has been imaged a number of times. To answer these questions, I turned to my colleague (and officemate) Sarah Eyermann, who studied the Helix as part of her graduate research in astronomy. But… who cares? Why do astronomers look at the same objects, again and again? Okay, so it makes the Helix look even more like the Eye of Sauron. The video below zooms in on the location of the Helix, and shows a comparison of visible and infrared images. Unlike the first image, this one shows the Helix through infrared filters. Many satellites and ground-based observatories have turned their eyes towards the Helix Nebula.Īcknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey UnitĪ new image of the Helix was recently released by the ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA).
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There are many similar images of the Helix in visible light, and others across a variety of wavelengths.
#Nebula with amberlight download#
The image above combines observations of the Helix from the the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the Hubble Space Telescope and the ground-based Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile (you can download it from HubbleSite). And guess what – scientists like to look at it too! It’s one of those inspiring, mysterious images of space that people like to look at. It was even featured on a postage stamp issued in Great Britain in 2007. It’s one of those objects that gets turned into desktop wallpapers, posters, and postcards. The Helix Nebula is an iconic astronomical object – it’s been imaged again and again, by a variety of satellites.
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