| NASA Center: |
Hubble Space Telescope Center |
|---|
| Image # : |
PR97-38 |
|---|
| Date : |
12/17/1997
|
|---|
|
Title
The Twin Jet Nebula
Full Description
M2-9 is a striking example of a "butterfly" or a bipolar planetary
nebula. Another more revealing name might be the "Twin Jet Nebula." If
the nebula is sliced across the star, each side of it appears much like
a pair of exhausts from jet engines. Indeed, because of the nebula's
shape and the measured velocity of the gas, in excess of 200 miles per
second, astronomers believe that the description as a super-super-sonic
jet exhaust is quite apt.
This is much the same process that takes place in a jet engine: The
burning and expanding gases are deflected by the engine walls through
a nozzle to form long, collimated jets of hot air at high speeds. M2-9
is 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Ophiucus. The
observation was taken Aug. 2, 1997 by the Hubble telescope's Wide Field
and Planetary Camera 2. In this image, neutral oxygen is shown in red,
once-ionized nitrogen in green, and twice-ionized oxygen in blue.
Keywords
Hubble Space Telescope HST Planetary Nebula Pluto Wide Field Planetary Camera WFPC
Subject Category
Deep Space Studies, Hubble,
Reference Numbers
- Center:
HSTI
- Center Number:
PR97-38
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2000-000953
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NASA, Bruce Balick University of Washingtom, Vincent Icke Leiden
- Original Source: DIGITAL
| Resolution | Format | Width
(Pixels) | Height
(Pixels) | Size
(KBytes) |
Thumbnail |
.jpg |
83 |
46 |
10 |
Small |
.jpg |
587 |
328 |
301 |
Medium |
.jpg |
587 |
328 |
336 |
Large |
.jpg |
1376 |
769 |
958 |
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