Planetary Nebula Mz3: The Ant Nebula
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
Why isn't this ant a big
sphere? Planetary
nebula Mz3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that
is, surely, round.
Why then would the gas
that is streaming
away create anant-shaped
nebula that is distinctly not round?
Clues might
include the high 1000-kilometer per second speed of the expelled gas,
the light-year long
length of the structure, and the magnetism of
the star visible above at
the nebula's center.
One possible answer is
that Mz3 is
hiding a second, dimmer star that orbits close in to the
bright star.
A competing hypothesis holds that
the central star's own spin and magnetic field are
channeling the gas.
Since the central star
appears to be so similar to our own Sun, astronomers hope that
increased understanding of the history of this giant space ant can provide
useful insight into the likely future of our own Sun and Earth.
