The NASA space agency has released a modern photograph of the Necklace Nebula, which has again been captured by the Hubble Telescope. It is a planetary nebula about 15,000 light-years from Earth in the small, faint constellation Arrow (originally named Sagitta in Latin). The last time the automatic observatory of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) photographed the “Necklace” 10 years ago – in early July 2011.
The impressively beautiful Necklace Nebula has the scientific name PN G054.203.4, formed by the interaction of a pair of densely rotating sun-like stars. About 10,000 years ago, one of the aging giant stars expanded and enveloped its nearest smaller companion, creating what astronomers call a “common envelope.” The process produced an unparalleled ring adorned with vibrant gasballs.
The stars at the base of the Necklace Nebula are in a relatively close orbit relative to each other, so they appear as a single point in the photograph. The orbital period is 1.2 days, while the celestial bodies are distant by about 5 solar radii. According to NASA experts, the nebula is two light years in diameter.
The new image of the Necklace Nebula uses advanced processing methods and is significantly ahead of the previous one in terms of brightness and quality. As last time, several images were combined using Wide Angle Camera 3 (WFC 3), the most advanced instrument on board the Hubble.
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