Starship Asterisk*

A Spectre in the Eastern Veil

Explanation: Frightening forms and scary faces are a mark of the Halloween season. They also haunt this cosmic close-up of the eastern Veil Nebula. The Veil Nebula itself is a large supernova remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive star. While the Veil is roughly circular in shape and covers nearly 3 degrees on the sky in the constellation Cygnus, this portion of the eastern Veil spans only 1/2 degree, about the apparent size of the Moon. That translates to 12 light-years at the Veil's estimated distance, a reassuring 1,400 light-years from planet Earth. In the composite of image data recorded through broad and narrow band filters, emission from hydrogen atoms in the remnant is shown in red with strong emission from oxygen atoms in blue-green hues. Of course, in the western part of the Veil lies another seasonal apparition, the Witch's Broom.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[/b]

when a star goes Kaboom, is that fusion or fission ?

ta152h0 wrote:when a star goes Kaboom, is that fusion or fission ?

My understanding is:

In the case of novae and type 1a supernovae, it is sudden fusion re-ignition, otherwise it is gravitational potential energy released from a core collapse. If there is any fission of heavy elements, it would probably be negligible.

Wow this image is astonishingly detailed and colourful and I would expect no less of a master astrophotographer like Ken Crawford! It also shows the power of narrowband filters combined with long exposures! Also the description mentions that the field of view is half a degree but the width is 1 degree.

Just a Specter... of its former self?

Excellent work.

:---[===] *

These false color images always highlight hydrogen and oxygen. The recipe for water. Was oxygen that common already in the star before kaboom, or was it produced during the sudden fusion? Since it seems so common, why isn't water more common? Within our own ystem, Earth (and less than one would think), a few distant moons, and maybe trace on Mars, is all I hear about. Do the gas giants have water?

I don't know if I see this as a bat?
Or an owl?
'spect I wouldn't want to veil my face with either – except for tomorrow when the tricksters come a callin'.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observin ... -08072014/

Any black hole lurking in the Eastern Veil following the supernova event?

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608028 ... 9&rs=0&p=0
I always think this area looks like the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character.

Diana wrote:http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608028 ... 9&rs=0&p=0
I always think this area looks like the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character.

I do, too!!

tomatoherd wrote:These false color images always highlight hydrogen and oxygen. The recipe for water. Was oxygen that common already in the star before kaboom, or was it produced during the sudden fusion? Since it seems so common, why isn't water more common? Within our own ystem, Earth (and less than one would think), a few distant moons, and maybe trace on Mars, is all I hear about. Do the gas giants have water?

This image is true colour.

It's a great picture.

This spectre deserves respect.

starsurfer wrote:

tomatoherd wrote:These false color images always highlight hydrogen and oxygen. The recipe for water. Was oxygen that common already in the star before kaboom, or was it produced during the sudden fusion? Since it seems so common, why isn't water more common? Within our own ystem, Earth (and less than one would think), a few distant moons, and maybe trace on Mars, is all I hear about. Do the gas giants have water?

This image is true colour.

Well, sort of. There's been an effort to map individual filter channels to colors that are similar to what we might see at these wavelengths given enough signal. Of course, we'd never see this object in color with our eyes, so there's really no such thing as "true" color.

Chris Peterson wrote:

starsurfer wrote:

tomatoherd wrote:These false color images always highlight hydrogen and oxygen. The recipe for water. Was oxygen that common already in the star before kaboom, or was it produced during the sudden fusion? Since it seems so common, why isn't water more common? Within our own ystem, Earth (and less than one would think), a few distant moons, and maybe trace on Mars, is all I hear about. Do the gas giants have water?

This image is true colour.

Well, sort of. There's been an effort to map individual filter channels to colors that are similar to what we might see at these wavelengths given enough signal. Of course, we'd never see this object in color with our eyes, so there's really no such thing as "true" color.

Well you know what I mean, Mr Pedantic! I'm so happy you replied to my post!