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Collection:
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NASA Great Images in Nasa Collection
Collection
NASA Great Images in Nasa Collection
Collection
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Title:
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Cometary Knots Around A Dying Star
Title
Cometary Knots Around A Dying Star
Title
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Full Description:
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These gigantic, tadpole-shaped objects are probably the result of a dying star's last gasps. Dubbed "cometary knots" because their glowing heads and gossamer tails resemble comets, the gaseous objects probably were formed during a star's final stages of life. Hubble astronomer C. Robert O'Dell and graduate student Kerry P. Handron of Rice University in Houston, Texas discovered thousands of these knots with the Hubble Space Telescope while exploring the Helix nebula, the closest planetary nebula to Earth at 450 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. Although ground-based telescopes have revealed such objects, astronomers have never seen so many of them. The most visible knots all lie along the inner edge of the doomed star's ring, trillions of miles away from the star's nucleus. Although these gaseous knots appear small, they're actually huge. Each gaseous head is at least twice the size of our solar system; each tail stretches for 100 billion miles, about 1,000 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Astronomers theorize that the doomed star spews hot, lower-density gas from its surface, which collides with cooler, higher-density gas that had been ejected 10,000 years before. The crash fragments the smooth cloud surrounding the star into smaller, denser finger-like droplets, like dripping paint. This image was taken in August, 1994 with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. The red light depicts nitrogen emission ([NII] 6584A); green, hydrogen (H-alpha, 6563A); and blue, oxygen (5007A).
Full_Description
These gigantic, tadpole-shaped objects are probably the result of a dying star's last gasps. Dubbed "cometary knots" because their glowing heads and gossamer tails resemble comets, the gaseous objects probably were formed during a star's final stages of life. Hubble astronomer C. Robert O'Dell and graduate student Kerry P. Handron of Rice University in Houston, Texas discovered thousands of these knots with the Hubble Space Telescope while exploring the Helix nebula, the closest planetary nebula to Earth at 450 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. Although ground-based telescopes have revealed such objects, astronomers have never seen so many of them. The most visible knots all lie along the inner edge of the doomed star's ring, trillions of miles away from the star's nucleus. Although these gaseous knots appear small, they're actually huge. Each gaseous head is at least twice the size of our solar system; each tail stretches for 100 billion miles, about 1,000 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Astronomers theorize that the doomed star spews hot, lower-density gas from its surface, which collides with cooler, higher-density gas that had been ejected 10,000 years before. The crash fragments the smooth cloud surrounding the star into smaller, denser finger-like droplets, like dripping paint. This image was taken in August, 1994 with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. The red light depicts nitrogen emission ([NII] 6584A); green, hydrogen (H-alpha, 6563A); and blue, oxygen (5007A).
Full Description
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Date:
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08/01/1994
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NASA Center:
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Hubble Space Telescope Center
NASA_Center
Hubble Space Telescope Center
NASA Center
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Subject Category:
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Deep Space Studies
Subject_Category
Deep Space Studies
Subject Category
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Subject Category:
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Hubble
Subject_Category
Hubble
Subject Category
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Keywords:
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Space
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Keywords:
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Field
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Keywords:
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Camera
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Keywords:
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2
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Keywords:
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Telescope
Keywords
Telescope
Keywords
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Keywords:
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Wide
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Keywords:
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Planetary
Keywords
Planetary
Keywords
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Keywords:
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Hubble
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Keywords:
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HST
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Keywords:
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Nebula
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Keywords:
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WFPC
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Keywords:
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Constellation
Keywords
Constellation
Keywords
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Keywords:
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Cometary
Keywords
Cometary
Keywords
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Keywords:
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Knots
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Keywords:
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Helix
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Keywords:
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Light-Year
Keywords
Light-Year
Keywords
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Keywords:
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Aquarius
Keywords
Aquarius
Keywords
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Audience:
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General Public
Audience
General Public
Audience
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facet_what:
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Camera 2
facet_what
Camera 2
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Earth
facet_what
Earth
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Sun
facet_what
Sun
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Aquarius
facet_what
Aquarius
facet_what
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facet_what:
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COMETS
facet_what
COMETS
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
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facet_where:
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Texas
facet_where
Texas
facet_where
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facet_when:
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August, 1994
facet_when
August, 1994
facet_when
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facet_when:
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08-01-1994
facet_when
08-01-1994
facet_when
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facet_when_year:
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1994
facet_when_year
1994
facet_when_year
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Image #:
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PR96-13B
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original_url:
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original_url
original_url
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UID:
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SPD-GRIN-GPN-2000-00 1370
UID
SPD-GRIN-GPN-2000-00 1370
UID
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Center:
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HSTI
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Center Number:
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PR96-13B
Center_Number
PR96-13B
Center Number
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GRIN DataBase Number:
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GPN-2000-001370
GRIN_DataBase_Number
GPN-2000-001370
GRIN DataBase Number
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Creator-Photographer:
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NASA Robert O Dell Kerry P. Handron Rice University, Houston Texas
Creator-Photographer
NASA Robert O Dell Kerry P. Handron Rice University, Houston Texas
Creator-Photographer
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Original Source:
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DIGITAL
Original_Source
DIGITAL
Original Source
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