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The Necklace Nebula
A giant cosmic necklace glows brightly in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image.
The object, aptly named the Necklace Nebula, is a recently discovered planetary nebula, the glowing remains of an ordinary, Sun-like star. The nebula consists of a bright ring, measuring 12 trillion miles across, dotted with dense, bright knots of gas that resemble diamonds in a necklace. The knots glow brightly due to absorption of ultraviolet light from the central stars.
A pair of stars orbiting very close together produced the nebula, also called PN G054.2-03.4. About 10,000 years ago one of the aging stars ballooned to the point where it enveloped its companion star. This caused the larger star to spin so fast that much of its gaseous envelope expanded into space. Due to centrifugal force, most of the gas escaped along the star's equator, producing a dense ring. The embedded bright knots are the densest gas clumps in the ring.
The stars are furiously whirling around each other, completing an orbit in a little more than a day. (For comparison, Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, takes 88 days to orbit the Sun.)
The Necklace Nebula is located 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagitta (the Arrow). In this composite image, taken on July 2, 2011, Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 captured the glow of hydrogen (blue), oxygen (green), and nitrogen (red).
About the Object
- R.A. PositionR.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.19h 43m 59.49s
- Dec. PositionDec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.17° 9' 1.08"
- ConstellationConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.Sagitta
- DistanceDistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.About 15,000 light-years or 4,600 parsecs
About the Data
- Data DescriptionData DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.This image was created from HST data from proposal 12675: K. Noll, Z. Levay, M. Livio, C. Christian, H. Bond, L. Frattare, M. Mutchler, T. Borders, and W. Januszewski (Hubble Heritage Team/STScI). - InstrumentInstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.HST>WFC3/UVIS
- Exposure DatesExposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.July 2, 2011, Exposure Time: 44 minutes
- FiltersFiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.F502N ([O III]), F438W (B), F656N (H-alpha), F555W (V), F658N ([N II]), and F814W (I)
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.Necklace Nebula, PN G054.2-03.4
- Object DescriptionObject DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.Planetary Nebula
- Release DateAugust 11, 2011
- Science ReleaseHubble Offers a Dazzling View of the ‘Necklace’ Nebula
- Credits
This image is a composite of many separate exposures made by the WFC3/UVIS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope using six different filters, three broadband filters, and three narrowband filters. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F502N ([O III]) + F438W (B) Green: F656N (H-alpha) + F555W (V) Red: F658N ([N II]) + F814W (I)
Related Images & Videos
A Cosmic Necklace Larger than a Solar System
The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) detector onboard Hubble was used to observe the Necklace Nebula on July 2, 2011. Hubble's WFC3 broadband filters, which show the colors of the galactic field stars, were used along with narrowband filters that show emission from the gases that make...
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
