APOD: NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula (2018 May 11)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
Post Reply
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5345
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am
Contact:

APOD: NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula (2018 May 11)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri May 11, 2018 4:06 am

Image NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula

Explanation: This pretty cosmic cloud lies some 1,500 light-years away, it shape and color reminiscent of a blue robin's egg. It spans about 3 light-years, nested securely within the boundaries of the southern constellation Fornax. Recognized as a planetary nebula it doesn't represent a beginning though, but instead corresponds to a brief and final phase in the evolution of an aging star. In fact, visible in the telescopic image the central star of NGC 1360 is known to be a binary star system likely consisting of two evolved white dwarf stars, less massive but much hotter than the Sun. Their intense and otherwise invisible ultraviolet radiation has stripped away electrons from the atoms in the surrounding gaseous shroud. The predominant blue-green hue of NGC 1360 seen here is the strong emission produced as electrons recombine with doubly ionized oxygen atoms.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>

User avatar
JohnD
Tea Time, Guv! Cheerio!
Posts: 1578
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 2:11 pm
Location: Lancaster, England

Re: APOD: NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula (2018 May 11)

Post by JohnD » Fri May 11, 2018 9:24 am

Anne, maybe?
The first link in this APoDs caption mentions "OIII" and other similar acronyms(?) And associates them with colour. Does OIII refer to triply ionised Oxygen?
John

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13373
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula (2018 May 11)

Post by Ann » Fri May 11, 2018 10:42 am

JohnD wrote: Fri May 11, 2018 9:24 am Anne, maybe?
The first link in this APoDs caption mentions "OIII" and other similar acronyms(?) And associates them with colour. Does OIII refer to triply ionised Oxygen?
John

OIII actually means "doubly ionized oxygen". It is confusing, I know.

I believe that OIII is actually this color. That's too green to be my cup of tea, or even my orbiting teapot.

Ann
Color Commentator

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula (2018 May 11)

Post by neufer » Fri May 11, 2018 12:04 pm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_1360 wrote:
<<NGC 1360, also known as the Robin's Egg Nebula, is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Fornax. It was identified as a planetary nebula due to its strong radiation in the OIII (oxygen) bands. Reddish matter, believed to have been ejected from the original star before its final collapse, is visible in images.

In 2017 it was discovered the central source was a long period double degenerate in a 142-day orbit, with masses of 0.555 (Central Star) and 0.70 (White Dwarf Companion) Solar Masses respectively.>>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolk#Double-yolk_eggs wrote:
<<Double-yolk eggs occur when ovulation occurs too rapidly, or when one yolk becomes joined with another yolk. These eggs may be the result of a young hen's reproductive cycle not yet being synchronized. Higher-order yolks are rare, although heavier poultry breeds such as the Buff Orpington have been known to lay triple-yolk eggs occasionally.>>
Art Neuendorffer

User avatar
orin stepanek
Plutopian
Posts: 8200
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: APOD: NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula (2018 May 11)

Post by orin stepanek » Fri May 11, 2018 12:18 pm

Notice the color on top? Maybe this egg is pipping! :lol2:
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

starsurfer
Stellar Cartographer
Posts: 5306
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:25 pm

Re: APOD: NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula (2018 May 11)

Post by starsurfer » Fri May 11, 2018 1:50 pm

Ann wrote: Fri May 11, 2018 10:42 am
JohnD wrote: Fri May 11, 2018 9:24 am Anne, maybe?
The first link in this APoDs caption mentions "OIII" and other similar acronyms(?) And associates them with colour. Does OIII refer to triply ionised Oxygen?
John

OIII actually means "doubly ionized oxygen". It is confusing, I know.

I believe that OIII is actually this color. That's too green to be my cup of tea, or even my orbiting teapot.

Ann
Isn't there two different OIII lines and one is more blue?

starsurfer
Stellar Cartographer
Posts: 5306
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:25 pm

Re: APOD: NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula (2018 May 11)

Post by starsurfer » Fri May 11, 2018 1:51 pm

It's so good to finally see a PN on APOD after what feels like years. Don Goldman is a legend when it comes to PN.

The other thing is that Josep Drudis has discovered unknown ejecta around the central star of the reflection nebula IC 2220!

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula (2018 May 11)

Post by neufer » Fri May 11, 2018 2:44 pm

starsurfer wrote: Fri May 11, 2018 1:50 pm
Isn't there two different OIII lines and one is more blue?
  • There are 3 different OIII lines and the weakest one is more blue.
http://laserstars.org/spectra/Nebulium.html wrote:

:arrow: O III Energy Levels : Energy level diagram for the doubly ionized oxygen ion.

The 5006.8 Å and 4958.9 Å magnetic dipole transitions are the
most intense nebular lines and are sometimes designated N1 & N2.

The weaker nebular lines 1D2 - 1S0, is due to quadrupole radiation.
............................................................................................
<<A very interesting class of astronomical objects are known as planetary nebulae. To early astronomers these appeared as discs, rather than as points, which is the case for stars. Hence the name. Sir William Huggins (1864) was the first to observe the spectrum of a planetary nebula, we quote from his paper :

Sir William Huggins: "On the evening of the 29th of August, 1864, I directed the telescope for the first time to a planetary nebula in Draco (NGC 6543). The reader may now be able to picture to himself to some extent the feeling of excited suspense, mingled with a degree of awe, with which, after a few moments of hesitation, I put my eye to the spectroscope. Was I not about to look into a secret place of creation ?

I looked into the spectroscope. No spectrum such as I expected !
A single bright line only !
"

Subsequent observations, with better resolution, showed that this bright line was actually a doublet. Huggins showed that nebulae had bright emission lines, unlike the broad spectrum expected of unresolved stars which nebulae where widely believed to be composed of. He concluded they are enormous masses of hot luminous gas or vapour which would never be resolved into stars.

In 1918, W.H.Wright made extensive observations of the nebulae. Among the many lines catalogued less than half were identified, in particular the strong 4959 and 5007 Å pair (also known as N_1 N_2). For a long time this line pair could not be identified and was attributed to a new element, which he named 'nebulium'. Extensive laboratory studies began accumulating large spectroscopic databases of common elements from arc and spark sources. The fact that 'Nebulium' lines didn't show up led H.N.Russel to conclude that they: 'must be due not to atoms of unknown kinds but to atoms of known kinds shining under unfamiliar conditions such as in extremely low density gasses'

Ira Bowen was a physicist at Caltech who worked with R.Millikan specialized in ultraviolet spectra and the energy levels of the light ions. He wondered what happens if atoms get into metastable states, in which downward transitions cannot proceed by dipole radiation, are they stuck there forever ? Then he realized that in the low densities of nebulae they could remain undisturbed long enough to make transitions to lower levels by magnetic dipole or electric quadrupole radiation. These 'forbidden' transitions settled the mystery of the origin of the lines originally attributed to the hypothetical element 'Nebulium'.

Bowen (1928) first showed that the 'Nebulium' lines which had been observed in the spectra of many cosmic nebulae but were long a complete mystery, were to be explained as forbidden transitions between the deep terms of O+ (4S, 2D, 2P), O++ (3P, 1D, 1S), and N+ (3P, 1D, 1S). The deep terms of the O++ ion is shown in the figure below. Transitions between them involving dipole radiation are strictly forbidden by the Laporte rule, since they are terms belonging to the same electron configuration : 1S2 2S2 2P3 for O+ 1S2 2S2 2P2 for O++ and N+. The positions of these energy levels have been known with great accuracy for a long time from allowed combinations with higher terms. Bowen showed that the wavelengths of the forbidden lines, calculated from the combination of these terms, agree exactly (within the limits of experimental accuracy) with the wavelengths of the unexplained Nebulium lines. Thus it was proved that the Nebulium lines result from forbidden transitions in the O II, O III, and N II spectra, and it was no longer necessary to assume the presence of a new element in these nebulae.

Actually, in cosmic nebulae the conditions are extremely favorable for the occurrence of these forbidden transitions. It is estimated that the densities in the nebulae are of the order of 10-17 to 10-20 grams per cubic centimeter. Assuming a plausible value for the temperature (approximately 10,000 K), the time between two collisions suffered by an atom is then 10-1 to 10-4 seconds. Thus, when O+, O++, or N+ ions, which certainly are present, go into these low metastable states by allowed transitions from higher states, they remain there uninfluenced until they radiate spontaneously. A large fraction of the more highly excited ions must come eventually into these states and practically every ion goes from them to the ground state by radiation. This explains why the Nebulium lines are very intense in nebulae, whereas they are not observed in terrestrial light sources, in which the other allowed O II, O III, and N II lines appear strongly.

Additional weaker nebular lines have been identified by various investigators in a similar manner as forbidden transitions of S II, S III, Ne III, Ne IV, Ne V, Ar IV, Ar V, and Cl III. The identity of a few others still remains doubtful (Bowen 1936).

According to Condon, the intense Nebulium lines N_1 and N_2, ascribed to O++, are due to magnetic dipole radiation. Corresponding to this, the 1D2 to 3P0 transition does not appear (cf. the above selection rules). Since we are dealing at the same time with an intercombination (singlet-triplet), the mean life of the upper state is even greater than for quadrupole radiation without intercombination. On the other hand, the green auronal line, as well as the corresponding nebular lines 1D2 - 1S0, is due to quadrupole radiation (delta J = 2, no intercombination).>>
Art Neuendorffer

starsurfer
Stellar Cartographer
Posts: 5306
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:25 pm

Re: APOD: NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula (2018 May 11)

Post by starsurfer » Fri May 11, 2018 3:10 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Fri May 11, 2018 12:18 pm Notice the color on top? Maybe this egg is pipping! :lol2:
This is a jet, there is also one to the south. This is usually a reliable kinematical indicator of binarity of the central star. A lot of other planetary nebulae have jets or outflows but they are hardly photographed for some unknown reason.

skiantonucci0@gmail.com
Asternaut
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 12, 2018 1:06 am

Re: APOD: NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula (2018 May 11)

Post by skiantonucci0@gmail.com » Sat May 12, 2018 1:12 am

" The predominant blue-green hue of NGC 1360 seen here is the strong emission produced as electrons recombine with doubly ionized oxygen atoms. "

Presumably you mean the collisionally excited lines? I'd be surprised if it's in the weak 4363A line; more likely the blue-green 4959, 5009 region?

Post Reply