APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

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APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri Jun 12, 2015 4:05 am

Image 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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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by saturno2 » Fri Jun 12, 2015 4:46 am

Best regards
Very interesting image.

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by LocalColor » Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:03 am

This is a beautiful image of "star stuff".

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by daddyo » Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:45 am

Who spilled the paint?

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by Boomer12k » Fri Jun 12, 2015 7:17 am

A wondrous visage indeed.

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by starsurfer » Fri Jun 12, 2015 10:35 am

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.

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by henrystar » Fri Jun 12, 2015 11:55 am

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!

NCTom

Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by NCTom » Fri Jun 12, 2015 12:06 pm

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

fergi7

Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by fergi7 » Fri Jun 12, 2015 12:43 pm

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

Animal of Stone

Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by Animal of Stone » Fri Jun 12, 2015 12:56 pm

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

lefthip

Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by lefthip » Fri Jun 12, 2015 2:38 pm

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

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by Galactic Wonderer » Fri Jun 12, 2015 3:50 pm

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!

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by thewon » Fri Jun 12, 2015 4:59 pm

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

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by dlw » Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:41 pm

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
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Ann
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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by Ann » Fri Jun 12, 2015 8:01 pm

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
Last edited by Ann on Sat Jun 13, 2015 6:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by Craine » Fri Jun 12, 2015 11:39 pm

This is beautiful!

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by Patrik50 » Sat Jun 13, 2015 7:48 am

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!

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by starsurfer » Sat Jun 13, 2015 11:45 am

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

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by Ann » Sat Jun 13, 2015 4:56 pm

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.

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by bystander » Sat Jun 13, 2015 6:22 pm

NGC 4194: A Black Hole in Medusa's Hair
NASA | MSFC | SAO | CXC | 2009 Mar 11
[img3="Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Iowa/P.Kaaret et al.;
Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/Univ of Iowa/P.Kaaret et al.
"]http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/medusa/medusa.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]
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.
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Ann
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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by Ann » Sat Jun 13, 2015 6:53 pm

I take it back, starsurfer. You were right.

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by starsurfer » Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:50 pm

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.

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Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by starsurfer » Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:51 pm

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.

Animal of Stone

Re: APOD: The Medusa Nebula (2015 Jun 12)

Post by Animal of Stone » Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:31 pm

thewon wrote:I propose that the Medusa Nebula be renamed The Farrah Fawcett Nebula Image
i second that motion !