Sunday, January 30, 2011

APOD 3.2

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110125.html
\

This is a picture of supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5, which is a catchy name, but I think I'll call it SNEER for the rest of this post. SNEER (which NASA seems very convinced looks like a holiday ornament) was imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (launched in 1990 and continuing to orbit Earth today, at a speed of one spin every 97 minutes). This specific image has its coloring provided by a filter that allows only the Hα through. Hα is the brightest wavelegth in stellar astronomy. The exact cause of the ripples is unknown, though they have 'origin hypotheses'(SNEER is a superhero methinks?)  relating them to gas activity. I also learned a new word, 'ejecta'- pieces of an ejection, which is another part of the gas activity hypothesis. SNEER is a result of a Type Ia supernova, which is the one from a white-dwarf star, obviously. SNEER is 23 light-years ...large. It is also odd how the rings have just become visible though we should have been able to see them then..hmm... Welp, I have no answers, but pretty interesting, pretty pretty, and pretty spooooooky.

No comments:

Post a Comment