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> A planetary nebula, NGC 6302 in Scorpius

A planetary nebula, NGC 6302 in Scorpius

author: Anglo-Australian Observatory/David Malin Images/Novapix

reference: a-nep63-02003

Image Size 300 DPI: 29 * 23 cm

Towards the end of the long life of many low mass stars, some similar to the Sun, internal changes occur which cause them to shed most of their outer layers of gas, leaving behind a tiny, hot star. Many stars puff off their gas in a spherical shell. The shell can be very bright and superficially resembles the disc of a planet, hence the name for this class of object. In some cases, as in this example, the gas expands unevenly and an irregular planetary nebula results. In NGC 6302, some of the gas ejected by the star is travelling outwards at around 400 kilometers per second, indicating a particularly violent outburst.

 

Keywords for this photo:

AAO - ASTRONOMY - EVOLUTION - NEBULA - NGC 6302 - PLANETARY NEBULA - SCORPIUS - SIDING SPRING - STAR -