The Oyster Nebula, Ngc 1501
by Science Source
Title
The Oyster Nebula, Ngc 1501
Artist
Science Source
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
This image from Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 showcases NGC 1501, a complex planetary nebula located in the large but faint constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe). Discovered by William Herschel in 1787, NGC 1501 is a planetary nebula that is just under 5000 light-years away from us. Astronomers have modelled the three-dimensional structure of the nebula, finding it to be a cloud shaped as an irregular ellipsoid filled with bumpy and bubbly regions. It has a bright central star that can be seen easily in this image, shining from within the nebula's cloud. This star within its glowing shell inspired the nebula's popular nickname the Oyster Nebula. While NGC 1501's central star blasted off its outer shell long ago, it still remains very hot and luminous; it seems to be pulsating, varying quite significantly in brightness over a typical timescale of just half an hour. While variable stars are not unusual, it is uncommon to find one at the heart of a planetary nebula. The colors in this image are arbitrary.
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March 27th, 2017
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