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Friday, February 23, 2007

Dust and the Helix Nebula

Explanation:
Dust makes this cosmic eye look red. The eerie Spitzer Space Telescope image shows infrared radiation from the well-studied Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) a mere 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. The two light-year diameter shroud of dust and gas around a central white dwarf has long been considered an excellent example of a planetary nebula, representing the final stages in the evolution of a sun-like star. But the Spitzer data show the nebula's central star itself is immersed in a surprisingly bright infrared glow. Models suggest the glow is produced by a dust debris disk. Even though the nebular material was ejected from the star many thousands of years ago, the close-in dust could be generated by collisions in a reservoir of objects analogous to our own solar system's Kuiper Belt or cometary Oort cloud. Formed in the distant planetary system, the comet-like bodies have otherwise survived even the dramatic late stages of the star's evolution.
nasa.gov

2 comments:

Unknown said...

TODD. You need to see this!


http://jurgen.ca/2007/02/13/multi-touch-coolness/


Cool!

todd said...

cool stuff. I saw some prototype like that before but it's about time someone put minority-report-ish interface into real life implementation. can't wait. Next step let's hope we'll be gesturing in thin air.