Planetary Nebula Abell
36
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the
Day
The gorgeous, gaseous
shroud of a dying sunlike star, planetary
nebula Abell 36 lies a mere 800 light-years away in the constellation
of Virgo.
At that distance it
spans over 1.5 light-years in this sharp
telescopic view. Shrugging off its outer layers, the nebula's central star
is contracting and becoming hotter, evolving towards a final white dwarf
phase.
In fact, in Abell 36,
the central star is estimated to have a surface temperature of over 73,000 K,
compared to the Sun's present 6,000 K
temperature.
As a result, the
intensely hot star is much brighter in ultraviolet light, compared to its
visual appearance here. The invisible ultraviolet light ionizes hydrogen and
oxygen atoms in the nebula and ultimately powers the beautiful visible light
glow.
