Astronomy Picture of the Day
    


The Shape of the Southern Crab
<< Yesterday 23.04.2019 Tomorrow >>
The Shape of the Southern Crab
Credit & Copyright: NASA, ESA, STScI
Explanation: The symmetric, multi-legged appearance of the Southern Crab Nebula is certainly distinctive. About 7,000 light-years distant toward the southern sky constellation Centaurus, its glowing nested hourglass shapes are produced by the remarkable symbiotic binary star system at its center. The nebula's dramatic stellar duo consists of a hot white dwarf star and cool, pulsating red giant star shedding outer layers that fall onto the smaller, much hotter companion. Embedded in a disk of material, outbursts from the white dwarf cause an outflow of gas driven away both above and below the disk resulting in the bipolar hourglass shapes. The bright central shape is about half a light-year across. This new Hubble Space Telescope image celebrates the 29th anniversary of Hubble's launch on April 24, 1990 on board the Space Shuttle Discovery.

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
 < April 2019  >
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930




Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Based on Astronomy Picture Of the Day

Publications with keywords: symbiotic star
Publications with words: symbiotic star
See also: