Som ET - 35 - Universe - Hubble - NGC 7027 #Shorts

This object, which resembles a colorful jewel bug, is a visibly diffuse region of gas and dust that may be the result of ejections by closely orbiting binary stars that were first slowly sloughing off material over thousands of years, and then entered a phase of more violent and highly directed mass ejections. Hubble first looked at this planetary nebula in 1998. By comparing the old and new Hubble observations, researchers now have additional opportunities to study the object as it changes over time.

Planetary nebulas are expanding shells of gas created by dying stars that are shedding their outer layers. When new ejections encounter older ejections, the resulting energetic collisions shape the nebula. The mechanisms underlying such sequences of stellar mass expulsion are far from fully understood, but researchers theorize that binary companions to the central, dying stars play essential roles in shaping them.

NGC 7027 is approximately 3,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.

Audio: Som ET - 35 - Universe

NASA image: https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01EVSTB869SPAKDMS1ACX0E47D.png

Credits: NASA, ESA, and J. Kastner (RIT).

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