Planetary Nebula Survey
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A planetary nebula is a phase of stellar evolution that the sun should experience several billion years from now, when it expands to become a red giant. It will then shed most of its outer layers, leaving behind a hot core that contracts to form a dense white dwarf star. A wind from the hot core will ram into the ejected atmosphere, creating beautiful, shell-like structures seen with optical telescopes. This gallery shows four planetary nebulas from the first systematic survey of such objects in the solar neighborhood made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. X-ray emission from Chandra is colored purple and optical emission from the Hubble Space Telescope is colored red, green and blue. The diffuse X-ray emission is caused by shock waves as the wind collides with the ejected atmosphere.
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Quicktime MPEG
A planetary nebula is a phase of stellar evolution that the sun should experience several billion years from now, when it expands to become a red giant. It will then shed most of its outer layers, leaving behind a hot core that contracts to form a dense white dwarf star. A wind from the hot core will ram into the ejected atmosphere, creating beautiful, shell-like structures seen with optical telescopes. This gallery shows four planetary nebulas from the first systematic survey of such objects in the solar neighborhood made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. X-ray emission from Chandra is colored purple and optical emission from the Hubble Space Telescope is colored red, green and blue. The diffuse X-ray emission is caused by shock waves as the wind collides with the ejected atmosphere.
[Runtime: 01:00]
(Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)
Return to NGC 6543 (October 10, 2012)
Revised: October 10, 2012