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M27: Not a Comet

 
 
Reply Thu 26 Aug, 2010 11:55 am
M27: Not a Comet
Credit & Copyright: Matthew T. Russell

Explanation: While hunting for comets in the skies above 18th century France, astronomer Charles Messier diligently kept a list of the things he encountered that were definitely not comets. This is number 27 on his now famous not-a-comet list.

In fact, 21st century astronomers would identify it as a planetary nebula, but it's not a planet either, even though it may appear round and planet-like in a small telescope. Messier 27 (M27) is an excellent example of a gaseous emission nebula created as a sun-like star runs out of nuclear fuel in its core. The nebula forms as the star's outer layers are expelled into space, with a visible glow generated by atoms excited by the dying star's intense but invisible ultraviolet light. Known by the popular name of the Dumbbell Nebula, the beautifully symmetric interstellar gas cloud is over 2.5 light-years across and about 1,200 light-years away in the constellation Vulpecula.

This impressive color composite highlights details within the well-studied central region and fainter, seldom imaged features in the nebula's outer halo. It includes narrowband images recorded using filters sensitive to emission from oxygen atoms, shown in blue-green hues, and hydrogen atoms in red.

Photo: http://www.telescopes.cc/m27.htm
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talk72000
 
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Reply Thu 26 Aug, 2010 12:49 pm
@BumbleBeeBoogie,
This sun-like entity must have been smaller than the sun but large enough to create the gravitational forces to start nuclear fusion. It must have lost most of its gaseous mass to radiation and conversion to heavier elements so at the end it shrunk into a large planet.
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InfraBlue
 
  1  
Reply Thu 26 Aug, 2010 01:19 pm
According to Wikipedia, these nebula have nothing to do with planets. Merely, they are named "planetary nebula" because they resemble the giant planets when viewed through small telescopes.
talk72000
 
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Reply Thu 26 Aug, 2010 01:45 pm
@InfraBlue,
That's interesting. I have so so interest and knowledgein astronomy .
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