WOW! How weird is this one?
Credit & Copyright: Peter Tuthill (Sydney U.)
Explanation: What could cause a nebula to appear square? No one is quite sure. The hot star system known as MWC 922, however, appears to be imbedded in a nebula with just such a shape. The above image combines infrared exposures from the Hale Telescope on Mt. Palomar in California, and the Keck-2 Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. A leading progenitor hypothesis for the square nebula is that the central star or stars somehow expelled cones of gas during a late developmental stage. For MWC 922, these cones happen to incorporate nearly right angles and be visible from the sides. Supporting evidence for the cone hypothesis includes radial spokes in the image that might run along the cone walls. Researchers speculate that the cones viewed from another angle would appear similar to the gigantic rings of supernova 1987A, possibly indicating that a star in MWC 922 might one day itself explode in a similar supernova.
7 comments:
Beautiful and freaky at the same time!
Ya, this one is really odd...
You always have great pictures. When I was in the Coast Guard, we often patrolled waters off the coast of the Bahamas and at night the sky was unbelievable. With no other light from horizon to horizon, you could make out moons off Saturn and Jupiter using the "big eyes" (extremely powerful binoculars approximately 3 ft. long used for identifying objects at sea). I often volunteered for the 4-8 watch just for that purpose.
Hi AC, Ohhhh that would be awesome!
Eyes, you just have to know that I snagged this one! :)
:>D This one is awesome isn't it?
There is another that is even more symmetrical called the Rectangle!
Good morning, G*D bless and Maranatha!
tmw
Just goes to prove that there is a G*D!
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