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rainydaykitty

@rainydaykitty / rainydaykitty.tumblr.com

a carefully curated collection of space and galaxies, naked ladies in baths, cats and lions, and whatever else.
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galaxiesoftheuniverse
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fyeahastropics

Stars and Dust Pillars in NGC 7822 from WISE

(via APOD; Image Credit: WISE, IRSA, NASA; Processing & Copyright : Francesco Antonucci )

Hot, young stars and cosmic pillars of gas and dust seem to crowd into NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, this glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and complex dust sculptures dominate this detailed skyscape taken in infrared light by NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite. The atomic emission by the cluster’s gas is powered by energetic radiation from the hot stars, whose powerful winds and light also sculpt and erode the denser pillar shapes. Stars could still be forming inside the pillars by gravitational collapse, but as the pillars are eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cut off from their reservoir of star stuff. This field spans around 40  light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 7822.

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klesey
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galaxiesoftheuniverse
Cat’s Eye Nebula

The Cat’s Eye Nebula or NGC 6543, is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco. Structurally, it is one of the most complex nebulae known, with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope observations revealing remarkable structures such as knots, jets, bubbles and sinewy arc-like features. In the center of the Cat’s Eye there is a bright and hot star illuminating the surrounding nebula.

Discovered by William Herschel on February 15, 1786, it was the first planetary nebula whose spectrum was investigated by the English amateur astronomer William Huggins in 1864. The results of the latter investigation demonstrated for the first time that planetary nebulae consist of hot gases, but not stars.

Modern studies reveal several mysteries. The intricacy of the structure may be caused in part by material ejected from a binary central star, but as yet, there is no direct evidence that the central star has a companion.  Each ‘ring’ is actually the edge of a spherical bubble seen projected onto the sky - which is why it appears bright along its outer edge.

#stars#nebula#cat's eye
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