Hubble Provides Holistic View of Stars Gone Haywire

[bystander]

Hubble Provides Holistic View of Stars Gone Haywire
NASA | GSFC | STScI | HubbleSite | 2020 Jun 18

Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Kastner (RIT)

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As nuclear fusion engines, most stars live placid lives for hundreds of millions to billions of years. But near the end of their lives they can turn into crazy whirligigs, puffing off shells and jets of hot gas. Astronomers have employed Hubble's full range of imaging capabilities to dissect such crazy fireworks happening in two nearby young planetary nebulas. NGC 6303 is dubbed the Butterfly Nebula because of its wing-like appearance. In addition, NGC 7027 resembles a jewel bug, an insect with a brilliantly colorful metallic shell.

The researchers have found unprecedented levels of complexity and rapid changes in jets and gas bubbles blasting off of the stars at the centers of both nebulas. Hubble is allowing the researchers to converge on an understanding of the mechanisms underlying the chaos.

"When I looked in the Hubble archive and realized no one had observed these nebulas with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 across its full wavelength range, I was floored," said Joel Kastner ... "These new multi-wavelength Hubble observations provide the most comprehensive view to date of both of these spectacular nebulas. As I was downloading the resulting images, I felt like a kid in a candy store."

By examining this pair of nebulas with Hubble's full, panchromatic capabilities — making observations in near-ultraviolet to near-infrared light — the team has had several "aha" moments. In particular, the new Hubble images reveal in vivid detail how both nebulas are splitting themselves apart on extremely short timescales — allowing astronomers to see changes over the past couple decades. Some of this rapid change may be indirect evidence of one star merging with its companion star. ...

Stunning New Hubble Images Reveal Stars Gone Haywire
ESA Hubble Photo Release | 2020 Jun 18

First Results from a Panchromatic HST/WFC3 Imaging Study of the Young,
Rapidly Evolving Planetary Nebulae NGC 7027 and NGC 6302 ~ Joel H. Kastner et al

• MDPI Galaxies 8(2):49 (June 2020) DOI: 10.3390/galaxies8020049

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<<haywire (n.) "soft wire for binding bales of hay," by 1891, from hay + wire (n.). Adjective meaning "poorly equipped, makeshift" is 1905, American English, from the sense of something held together only with haywire, particularly said to be from use of the stuff in New England lumber camps for jury-rigging and makeshift purposes, so that hay wire outfit became the "contemptuous term for loggers with poor logging equipment". Its springy, uncontrollable quality led to the sense in go haywire (by 1915).>>

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<<Baling wire, otherwise known as bale wire, farm wire, or soft wire, is a type of wire used in agriculture and industry for everything from mending fences to manually binding rectangular bales of hay, straw, or cut grass. It is also used to band together corrugated cardboard, paper, textiles, aluminum and other materials that are processed in the recycling industry.

Earmuffs for the purpose of thermal protection were invented by Chester Greenwood of Farmington, Maine in 1873, at the age of 15. He reportedly came up with the idea while ice skating and he asked his grandmother to sew tufts of fur between loops of [haywire]. His patent was for improved ear protectors. He manufactured these ear protectors, providing jobs for people in the Farmington area for nearly 60 years.>>