Planetary nebula NGC 7027 - Composite Photo Nasa: HST: 9811a1.jpg

Vlinder nevel NGC 7027 gefotografeerd in het infrarood. De foto in valse kleuren is samengesteld uit meerdere opnames in het infrarood bij verschillende golflengten. NGC 7027 is een planetaire nevel in wording. Ze bestaat uit een uitgerekt omhulsel van heet wit licht uitstralend gas en twee vleugels stralend in het rode licht van koeler waterstofgas. Het centrum bevat een ultraviolette ster, die het door haar uitgeworpen gas en stof tot lichten brengt door fluorescentie.

The composite color image of NGC 7027 is among the first data of a planetary nebula taken with NICMOS. This picture is actually composed of three separate images taken at different wavelengths. The red color represents cool molecular hydrogen gas, the most abundant gas in the universe. The image reveals the central star, which is hidden in images taken with visible light. Surrounding it is an elongated, ring-shaped region of gas and dust cast off by the star. This gas (appearing as white) has a temperature of several tens of thousands of degrees Fahrenheit. The object has two "cones" of cool molecular hydrogen gas (the red material) glowing in the infrared. The gas has been energized by ultraviolet light from the star - a process known as fluorescence. Most of the material shed by the star remains outside of the bright regions. It is invisible in this image because the layers of material in and near the bright regions are still shielding it from the central star's intense radiation. NGC 7027 is one of the smallest objects of its kind to be imaged by the Hubble telescope. However, the region seen here is approximately 14,000 times the average distance between Earth and the sun (93 million miles).

Credits: William B. Latter (SIRTF Science Center/Caltech) and NASA Other team investigators are: J. L. Hora (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory), J. H. Bieging (Steward Observatory), D. M. Kelly (University of Wyoming), A. Dayal (JPL/Caltech), A.G.G.M. Tielens (University of Groningen), S. Trammell (University of North Carolina at Charlotte)

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