Starship Asterisk*

The Medusa Nebula

Explanation: Braided, serpentine filaments of glowing gas suggest this nebula's popular name, The Medusa Nebula. Also known as Abell 21, this Medusa is an old planetary nebula some 1,500 light-years away along the southern border of the constellation Gemini. Like its mythological namesake, the nebula is associated with a dramatic transformation. The planetary nebula phase represents a final stage in the evolution of low mass stars like the sun, as they transform themselves from red giants to hot white dwarf stars and in the process shrug off their outer layers. Ultraviolet radiation from the hot star powers the nebular glow. An unrelated, bright, foreground star is near center in this close-up, telescopic view, while the Medusa's transforming central star is actually the dimmer star below center and toward the right-hand part of the frame. The Medusa Nebula is estimated to be over 4 light-years across.

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Very interesting image.

This is a beautiful image of "star stuff".

Who spilled the paint?

A wondrous visage indeed.

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This is a really strange image of a really strange planetary nebula. It is actually of fairly old age and is interacting with the interstellar medium although this phenomenon has been observed in young planetary nebula. The Medusa Nebula also has a halo, which can be seen in this image by Ken Crawford and this NOAO image.

starsurfer wrote:This is a really strange image of a really strange planetary nebula. It is actually of fairly old age and is interacting with the interstellar medium although this phenomenon has been observed in young planetary nebula. The Medusa Nebula also has a halo, which can be seen in this image by Ken Crawford and this NOAO image.

Would NEVER have guessed from the APOD image that this was a planetary! Wow!

Right of center appears to be a barred galaxy with a HUGE bar or do my eyes deceive me?

Question: Is there any similarity or connection between the stage of 'shedding outer layers' and a sustained all-encompassing CME ?

Anyone else see Medusa*s head in the centre at the top. Its in profile. The forehead, the eye, the nose and gaping mouth. . . .

No, to Medusa and barred galaxy, but I do see a jellyfish just right of center.

NCTom wrote:Right of center appears to be a barred galaxy with a HUGE bar or do my eyes deceive me?

Yes, I see it and many others as well throughout the photo though only that one looks barred to me. This is a most interesting APOD. Bravo!

I propose that the Medusa Nebula be renamed The Farrah Fawcett Nebula

Galactic Wonderer wrote:

NCTom wrote:Right of center appears to be a barred galaxy with a HUGE bar or do my eyes deceive me?

Yes, I see it and many others as well throughout the photo though only that one looks barred to me. This is a most interesting APOD. Bravo!

Also very simple (apparently) spirals. Should be an interesting case study of barred galaxy dynamics.

dlw wrote:

Galactic Wonderer wrote:

NCTom wrote:Right of center appears to be a barred galaxy with a HUGE bar or do my eyes deceive me?

Yes, I see it and many others as well throughout the photo though only that one looks barred to me. This is a most interesting APOD. Bravo!

Also very simple (apparently) spirals. Should be an interesting case study of barred galaxy dynamics.

Big Bar galaxy.jpg

Thanks, dlw! That 's a fine galaxy, but this kind of morphology isn't that unusual. A barred galaxy in the Deer Lick Group is relatively similar, and other interesting barred galaxies are NGC 1097 and NGC 2523. Of course, the one you found looks quite one-armed, which is interesting and unusual.

Ann

This is beautiful!

Obviously this is a beautiful picture,but you know what I love most about pictures like this.That you can blow them up and see galaxies like salt & pepper sprinkled throughout the cosmos.
What a molecularly small blue marble we live on!

The galaxy NGC 4194 is also known as the Medusa Galaxy.

starsurfer wrote:The galaxy NGC 4194 is also known as the Medusa Galaxy.

I don't think so, starsurfer. My software Guide says that NGC 4194 is in Ursa Major, quite far from the constellation Gemini. And Simbad's astronomical database describes NGC 4194 as an active galactic nucleus.

Also I doubt that the fascinating barred galaxy tangled in the Medusa Nebula's hair is bright enough to earn an NGC designation.

Ann

NGC 4194: A Black Hole in Medusa's Hair
NASA | MSFC | SAO | CXC | 2009 Mar 11

starsurfer wrote:The galaxy NGC 4194 is also known as the Medusa Galaxy.

Ann wrote:I don't think so, starsurfer. ...

CXC wrote:This composite image of the Medusa galaxy (also known as NGC 4194) shows X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in blue and optical light from the Hubble Space Telescope in orange. Located above the center of the galaxy and seen in the optical data, the "hair" of the Medusa -- made of snakes in the Greek myth -- is a tidal tail formed by a collision between galaxies. The bright X-ray source found towards the left side of Medusa's hair is a black hole

Please note starsurfer said Medusa Galaxy not Medusa Nebula.

I take it back, starsurfer. You were right.

Ann

Ann wrote:I take it back, starsurfer. You were right.

Ann

I will admit, it feels nice to be told I'm right after everyone is always telling me I'm wrong, especially when some people in my life say astronomy is a waste of time.

Also other deep sky objects that have the same name include the Helix Nebula and the Helix Galaxy as well as the Owl Nebula and the Owl Cluster.

thewon wrote:I propose that the Medusa Nebula be renamed The Farrah Fawcett Nebula

i second that motion !