Planetary Nebulae

Eye on Infinity: NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 35th Year in Orbit – NASA Science

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Eye on Infinity: NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 35th Year in Orbit – NASA Science

In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 35 years in Earth orbit, NASA is releasing an assortment of compelling images recently taken by Hubble, stretching from the planet Mars to star-forming regions, and a neighboring galaxy. After more than three decades of perusing the universe, Hubble remains a household name — the most well-recognized and … Read more

With NASA’s Webb, Dying Star’s Energetic Display Comes Into Full Focus – NASA Science

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With NASA’s Webb, Dying Star’s Energetic Display Comes Into Full Focus – NASA Science

Gas and dust ejected by a dying star at the heart of NGC 1514 came into complete focus thanks to mid-infrared data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Its rings, which are only detected in infrared light, now look like “fuzzy” clumps arranged in tangled patterns, and a network of clearer holes close to the … Read more

Hubble Captures a Star’s Swan Song – NASA Science

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Hubble Captures a Star’s Swan Song – NASA Science

The swirling, paint-like clouds in the darkness of space in this stunning image seem surreal, like a portal to another world opening up before us. In fact, the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is very real. We are seeing vast clouds of ionized atoms and molecules, thrown into space by a dying … Read more

X-ray Signal Points to Destroyed Planet, Chandra Finds – NASA

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X-ray Signal Points to Destroyed Planet, Chandra Finds – NASA

A planet may have been destroyed by a white dwarf at the center of a planetary nebula — the first time this has been seen. As described in our latest press release, this would explain a mysterious X-ray signal that astronomers have detected from the Helix Nebula for over 40 years. The Helix is a … Read more

Webb Finds Plethora of Carbon Molecules Around Young Star – NASA Science

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Webb Finds Plethora of Carbon Molecules Around Young Star – NASA Science

In a new study, this team explored the region around a very low-mass star known as ISO-ChaI 147, a 1 to 2 million-year-old star that weighs just 0.11 times as much as the Sun. The spectrum revealed by Webb’s MIRI shows the richest hydrocarbon chemistry seen to date in a protoplanetary disk – a total … Read more

Hubble Celebrates 34th Anniversary with a Look at the Little Dumbbell Nebula – NASA Science

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Hubble Celebrates 34th Anniversary with a Look at the Little Dumbbell Nebula – NASA Science

The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin … Read more

NASA’s Webb Discovers Dusty ‘Cat’s Tail’ in Beta Pictoris System – NASA

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NASA’s Webb Discovers Dusty ‘Cat’s Tail’ in Beta Pictoris System – NASA

Beta Pictoris, a young planetary system located just 63 light-years away, continues to intrigue scientists even after decades of in-depth study. It possesses the first dust disk imaged around another star — a disk of debris produced by collisions between asteroids, comets, and planetesimals. Observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope revealed a second debris disk … Read more

Webb Study Reveals Rocky Planets Can Form in Extreme Environments – NASA

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Webb Study Reveals Rocky Planets Can Form in Extreme Environments – NASA

An international team of astronomers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to provide the first observation of water and other molecules in the highly irradiated inner, rocky-planet-forming regions of a disk in one of the most extreme environments in our galaxy. These results suggest that the conditions for terrestrial planet formation can occur in … Read more