Like many dying stars, this has created a bi-polar planetary nebula, wher you get two “lobes” of gas on either side, with a donut-shaped region at the center. Viewed right down the center of one of the lobes, this would look like a ring, but since this is viewed from the side, we see mainly the lighter, rapidly expanding gas farther away with the heavier nitrogen and oxygen closer to the center. It takes the death of old stars to create the newer generations of stars in the Universe, and it’s through the very act of that stellar death that “interesting” material finds its way into the Universe. This way, the subsequent generations of star systems will have more heavy elements, more rocky planets, more complex chemistry, and — in the end — more opportunities for life. This Messier Monday brings us a look at not only this process, but at the single faintest object in the entire Messier catalogue.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 03:34:48 +0000
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