Crystal Ball Nebula<\/a> is located approximately 1,500 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus, near the border of Perseus.<\/p>\nOfficially known as NGC 1514, the nebula was discovered on November 13, 1790, by the German-British astronomer William Herschel.<\/p>\n
The new image of the Crystal Ball Nebula was captured by Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini North telescope, which is one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by NSF and operated by NSF\u2019s NOIRLab.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Crystal Ball Nebula is categorized as a planetary nebula, a nomenclature first presented by the nebula\u2019s discoverer, William Herschel,\u201d the NOIRLab astronomers said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe coined the term in the 1700s after spotting the spherical shape of these objects, which reminded him of planets. In reality, planets and planetary nebulae are unrelated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlanetary nebulae form when a low- or intermediate-mass star ejects its outer layers near the end of its life, forming a somewhat spherical cloud of gas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey typically have smoother, spherical shapes, making the Crystal Ball Nebula unique for its bumpy shells of gas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the central star casts away this gas, its inner core is exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRadiation from the core energizes the gas, giving it a scorching temperature and chromatic glow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Crystal Ball Nebula, for example, has an estimated temperature of 15,000 K.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHerschel found this object fascinating, amazed by its faintly illuminated shell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior to its discovery, he believed that nebulae were collections of stars that were too far away to individually resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe distinct bright point at the heart of the gaseous shell shattered this theory.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wrote in 1791, \u2018Our judgment I may venture to say, will be, that the nebulosity about the star is not of a starry nature\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believed the illumination of the Crystal Ball Nebula came from a single star, not a far-off grouping.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it may appear in the new image as if there is a single shining light source at the heart of the Crystal Ball Nebula, as Herschel saw, it actually contains two stars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese two stars orbit each other with a period of around 9 years \u2014 the longest known for any binary pair within a planetary nebula,\u201d the astronomers said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A stunning new image from the 8.1-m Gemini North telescope, located on the summit of Maunakea in Hawai\u2019i,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[34612,49,48,251134,1594,1595,1596,30635,66199,70865,73,58985,66,3305],"class_list":["post-687158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-binary-star","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crystal-ball-nebula","tag-gemini-north-observatory","tag-gemini-observatory","tag-gmos","tag-nebula","tag-ngc-1514","tag-noirlab","tag-nsf","tag-planetary-nebula","tag-science","tag-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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