NGC 6153 is a planetary nebula about 4,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion. The Hubble Space Telescope has photographed it as a faint blue haze — the remains of a star like the Sun that has used up most of its fuel.
How the nebula formed
When such a star runs low on fuel, it sheds its outer layers. The ultraviolet light from the star's bright, hot core then excites and ionizes that ejected gas, and it glows as a nebula.
NGC 6153 is elliptical, with a dense web of loops and filaments that Hubble shows in detail.
Why astronomers are interested
What makes it stand out is its chemistry:
| Element | Compared with us |
|---|---|
| Neon, argon, oxygen, carbon, chlorine | up to three times as much as in the solar system |
| Nitrogen | five times as much as the Sun |
The star may have built up these elements as it evolved. More likely, astronomers think, it formed from a cloud of gas and dust that was already rich in them.
Sources
Based on "Hubble View of a Nitrogen-Rich Nebula," NASA Image and Video Library, whose text is credited to the European Space Agency; rewritten in hubnx's own words. The image itself (ESA/Hubble and NASA) is not shown here.
ライセンス： CC0 1.0（パブリックドメイン） · 出典 images.nasa.gov
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