A Giant’s Funeral Pyre
noirlab_iotw2121a May 26th, 2021
Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURAAcknowledgment: Image processing: T. A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF NOIRLab)
This image shows the planetary nebula Sh2-42 in the constellation Sagittarius, and was captured by using the SMARTS 0.9-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. Despite the name, planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets — they are spectacular funeral pyres formed by red giant stars at the end of their lives. As these giant stars expand and throw their outer gaseous layers into space, the hot exposed core of the star ionizes the surrounding material, causing it to glow in a range of vivid colours. As it reaches the end of its life, our own Sun is expected to form a planetary nebula — but not for another 5 billion years!
Provider: NOIRLab
Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2121a/
Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA
Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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(1834 x 1978)
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Image Details
Position Details
Color Mapping
| Telescope | Spectral Band | Wavelength | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter Telescope (Tek2K) | Optical (OIII) | 502.0 nm |
|
SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter Telescope (Tek2K) | Optical (H-alpha) | 656.0 nm |
|
SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter Telescope (Tek2K) | Optical (I) | 802.0 nm |
|
SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter Telescope (Tek2K) | Optical (R) | 656.0 nm |
|
SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter Telescope (Tek2K) | Optical (G) | 475.0 nm |
- ID
- iotw2121a
- Subject Category
- Subject Name
- Sh2-42
- Credits
- CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURAAcknowledgment: Image processing: T. A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF NOIRLab)
- Release Date
- 2021-05-26T12:00:00
- Lightyears
- Redshift
- Reference Url
- https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2121a/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Distance Notes
- Facility
- SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter Telescope, SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter Telescope, SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter Telescope, SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter Telescope, SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter Telescope
- Instrument
- Tek2K, Tek2K, Tek2K, Tek2K, Tek2K
- Color Assignment
- Cyan, Red, Orange, Green, Blue
- Band
- Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
- Bandpass
- OIII, H-alpha, I, R, G
- Central Wavelength
- 502, 656, 802, 656, 475
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- None, None, None, None, None
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 272.653785254, -16.7572190273
- Reference Dimension
- 1834.0, 1978.0
- Reference Pixel
- 240.189728737, 1361.98761368
- Scale
- -0.000111936766937, 0.000111257613223
- Rotation
- -0.3531386335583
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- Full
- FITS Header
- Notes
- Creator (Curator)
- NSF's NOIRLab
- URL
- https://noirlab.edu
- Name
- Telephone
- Address
- 950 North Cherry Ave.
- City
- Tucson
- State/Province
- AZ
- Postal Code
- 85719
- Country
- USA
- Rights
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
- Publisher
- NSF's NOIRLab
- Publisher ID
- noirlab
- Resource ID
- iotw2121a
- Resource URL
- http://noirlab.edu/public/media/archives/images/original/iotw2121a.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2021-03-29T17:05:42+02:00
- Metadata Version
- 1.1
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
