APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
NGC 6369: A Donut Shaped Nebula
Explanation: Why isn't the star in the center of the nebula? NGC 6369 appears to be a fairly ordinary planetary nebula . It can be seen with a good telescope in the constellation of Ophiuchus . The gas expelled by the central star is bunched in the shape of a donut or cylinder. During the planetary nebula phase, the central star sheds its outer atmosphere as it is evolving to become a white dwarf star. The above image was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope . A closer look at NGC 6369 indicates that the central star is closer to a dimmer edge of the nebula than to the opposing brighter edge.
| Date | May 18, 1998 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: H. Bond (STSci), R. Ciardullo (PSU), WFPC2, HST, NASA |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |