Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
NGC 5882: A Small Planetary Nebula
Explanation:
Will most stars one day look like this? Pictured above is the planetary nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] NGC 5882, captured [ http://scivax.stsci…] by the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Although planetary nebulae [ http://zebu.uoregon…] can appear similar to planets like Uranus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and Neptune [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], they are actually gas [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] clouds surrounding stars typically hundreds of light years away. Planetary nebula [ http://home.cc.uman…] form when a typical star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] completes fusion [ http://fusedweb.ppp…] in its core and ejects an outer envelope of gas - usually about 10 percent of the star's initial mass. This gas shell dims in about 50,000 years - short compared to the lifetimes of stars [ http://xalph.ast.ca…]. Therefore, although only about 1000 planetary nebula [ http://wonka.physic…] are known in our Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], it is thought that most stars go through this phase. Green light is emitted when oxygen [ http://web.cetlink.…] ions acquire electrons from the surrounding gas.
Credit and Copyright:
H. Bond, HST, STSci [ http://www.stsci.ed…], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/]
facet_where:
Uranus
facet_where:
Hamilton
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_what:
Neptune
facet_what:
Uranus
facet_what:
nebula
facet_what:
planetary nebula
facet_what:
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what:
New General Catalogue (NGC)
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap960828

NGC 5882: A Small Planetary Nebula
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