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Astronomy Picture of the Day
NGC 3242: The Ghost of Jupiter
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#81285
by
[z]Barbara Harris
@
30.10.2005 00:00
- nach oben -
NGC 3242: The Ghost of Jupiter
Explanation:
After a star
like the Sun completes fusion
in its core, it throws off its outer layers in a brief,
beautiful cosmic display called a
planetary nebula
.
NGC 3242 is
such a planetary nebula,
with the stellar remnant
white dwarf star
visible at the center.
This nebula is sometimes called The Ghost of Jupiter for its
faint
, but similar appearance
to our solar system's ruling gas giant planet.
NGC 3242 is
light-years across however, and much farther away
than the measly 40 light-minutes distance to
Jupiter
.
In fact, while watching this ghostly nebula expand over time,
astronomers
have estimated
the distance to NGC 3242 to be about 1,400
light-years.
The
red FLIERs
visible near the edges of the
nebula are still a bit mysterious, though.
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