Some 5,000 light - years away from Earth , in the constellationCentaurus , a spooky physical object is illuminating the sky : The Boomerang Nebula .
This ghost - like swarm of gas is aplanetary nebula , which , contrary to the name , is not actually a planet . These cosmic object are formed when a red giant star run out of hydrogen fuel , cause the core to crock up . finally , the outer layers are spewed out into the milieu , resulting in a freshly - formed white dwarf encased in a shell of luminescent gas . This will finally be the beautiful fate of 95 % of all whiz in the Milky Way ; the rest will cease their lives in outstanding explosion bonk as supernovae .
Alongside looking somewhat like a Halloween costume gone wrong orKenny from South Park , the Boomerang Nebula , or the Bow Tie Nebula , is in reality the coldest known object in the existence . Measurements of the cloud were taken last twelvemonth by the Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array ( ALMA ) , which is located in northern Chile . fabulously , it was find oneself to be -272oC ( -458oF ) , or a simple 1 arcdegree Kelvin . That ’s chilly than the leftover of the Big Bang , or the cosmic microwave background .
In seeable light , the object has an oddhourglass configuration . This is because a impenetrable strip of tiny dust grains surround the star in the heart , dissemble a portion of it . This have in mind that Light Within is seep out only in a minute window , but in paired commission through the swarm .
“ This radical - dusty object is highly intriguing and we ’re get a line much more about its truthful nature with the Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array , ” said NASA’sDr . Raghvendra Sahai . “ What seemed like a double lobe , or boomerang shape , is really a much broader structure that is boom rapidly into space . ”
The Boomerang Nebula is stillyoung , so it ’s not quite reached the stage of planetary nebula phylogenesis where intense ultraviolet light radiation emitted from the white-hot midget get the gas cloud to shine , give out a wonderful raiment of colors .
The Butterfly Nebula . Credit : NASA / ESA / Hubble
While it might be super cold at the moment , investigator find that its edge are step by step beginning towarm . This is maybe due to something ring the photoelectric effect , which is where solid objects pass off electrons after absorbing light .
“ Using ALMA , we were quite literally and figuratively able to shed new lightness on the death throe of a Sun - corresponding star,”said Sahai .
[ Viaspace.com , The Astrophysical JournalandSci-News.com ]
