Stingray Nebula

"This Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 image captures the infancy of the Stingray nebula (Hen-1357), the youngest known planetary nebula. In this image, the bright central star is in the middle of the green ring of gas. Its companion star is diagonally above it at 10 o'clock. A spur of gas (green) is forming a faint bridge to the companion star due to gravitational attraction. The image also shows a ring of gas (green) surrounding the central star, with bubbles of gas to the lower left and upper right of the ring. The wind of material propelled by radiation from the hot central star has created enough pressure to blow open holes in the ends of the bubbles, allowing gas to escape. The red curved lines represent bright gas that is heated by a "shock" caused when the central star's wind hits the walls of the bubbles. The nebula is as large as 130 solar systems, but, at its distance of 18,000 light-years, it appears only as big as a dime viewed a mile away. The Stingray is located in the direction of the southern constellation Ara (the Altar). The colors shown are actual colors emitted by nitrogen (red), oxygen (green), and hydrogen (blue). " (NASA description).

这张宽视场和行星照相机2拍摄的图像捕捉到了Stingray星云（Hen-1357）的婴儿时期，这是已知最年轻的行星星云。在这张图像中，明亮的中心星位于绿色气体环的中间。它的伴星位于其右上方，位于10点方向。由于引力作用，气体（绿色）形成了一条微弱的桥连接到伴星。图像还显示围绕中心星的绿色气体环，环的下方左侧和上方右侧有气泡。由中心星辐射推动的物质风产生了足够的压力，使气泡两端出现孔洞，使气体得以逃逸。红色的曲线代表由中心星风撞击气泡壁时产生的‘冲击’加热的明亮气体。该星云的大小相当于130个太阳系，但由于其距离地球18,000光年，因此看起来仅如一枚硬币在一英里外的大小。Stingray位于南天星座Ara（祭坛）的方向。图像中显示的颜色是实际由氮（红色）、氧（绿色）和氢（蓝色）发射的光线。