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The Ring Nebula (M57)
The NASA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the sharpest view yet of the most famous of all planetary nebulae: the Ring Nebula (M57). In this October 1998 image, the telescope has looked down a barrel of gas cast off by a dying star thousands of years ago. This photo reveals elongated dark clumps of material embedded in the gas at the edge of the nebula; the dying central star floating in a blue haze of hot gas. The nebula is about a light-year in diameter and is located some 2,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Lyra.
The colors are approximately true colors. The color image was assembled from three black-and-white photos taken through different color filters with the Hubble telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Blue isolates emission from very hot helium, which is located primarily close to the hot central star. Green represents ionized oxygen, which is located farther from the star. Red shows ionized nitrogen, which is radiated from the coolest gas, located farthest from the star. The gradations of color illustrate how the gas glows because it is bathed in ultraviolet radiation from the remnant central star, whose surface temperature is a white-hot 216,000 degrees Fahrenheit (120,000 degrees Celsius).
About the Object
- R.A. PositionR.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.18h 53m 35.16s
- Dec. PositionDec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.33° 1' 43.2"
- ConstellationConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.Lyra
- 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.0.7 kpc or 2300 light-years
- DimensionsDimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.The image is 2 arcminutes (roughly 1.3 light-years) on the veritcal side.
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.Principal Astronomers: H. Bond, C. Christian, J. English, L. Frattare, F. Hamilton, A. Kinney, Z. Levay, K. Noll (The Hubble Heritage Team, STScI) - InstrumentInstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.HST>WFPC2
- Exposure DatesExposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.October 16, 1998, Exposure Time: 1 hour
- FiltersFiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.F469N (He II), F501N ([O III]), and F658N ([N II])
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.Messier 57, M57, Ring Nebula, NGC 6720
- Object DescriptionObject DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.Planetary Nebula
- Release DateJanuary 6, 1999
- Science ReleaseLooking Down a Barrel of Gas at a Doomed Star
- Credit
Blue: F469N (He II) Green: F501N ([O III]) Red: F658N ([N II])
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Details
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
