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Cometary Knot
Cometary knots, also referred as globules, are structures observed in several nearby planetary nebulae (PNe), including the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), the Ring Nebula (NGC 6720), the Dumbbell Nebula (NGC 6853), the Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392), and the Retina Nebula (IC 4406). They are believed to be a common feature of the evolution of planetary nebulae, but can only be resolved in the nearest examples. They are generally larger than the size of the Solar System (i.e. the orbit of Pluto), with masses of around ''10−5'' times the mass of the Sun, which is comparable to the mass of the Earth. There are about 40,000 cometary knots in the Helix Nebula. At optical wavelengths, the knots are seen as "the ionized skin of a dense, dusty molecular globule" forming a crescent-shaped head that is ionized and illuminated by the central star, with a trailing spoke or tail. In molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide data, the tails of cometary knots are observed to be highly molecular. The ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stellar Evolution
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is considerably longer than the age of the universe. The table shows the lifetimes of stars as a function of their masses. All stars are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust, often called nebulae or molecular clouds. Over the course of millions of years, these protostars settle down into a state of equilibrium, becoming what is known as a main-sequence star. Nuclear fusion powers a star for most of its existence. Initially the energy is generated by the fusion of hydrogen atoms at the core of the main-sequence star. Later, as the preponderance of atoms at the core becomes helium, stars like the Sun begin to fuse hydrogen along a spherical shell surrounding the core. This process causes the star to gradually grow in size, passing throug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NGC 6337
NGC 6337, the Ghostly Cheerio or Cheerio Nebula, is a toroidal planetary nebula in the constellation Scorpius. It appears as a ring-shaped (annular) transparent nebula resembling a piece of the breakfast cereal Cheerios, hence the name. Filament and knots, and a faint shell surround the ring. Its magnitude is 11.90; its position in Scorpius is right ascension 17h 22m15.67s, declination -38° 29' 01.73". The Ghostly Cheerio has a redshift value of -0.000236. There is convincing evidence that a binary nucleus exists at the center of the nebula, with masses of 0.6 and 0.3 M⊙, and a separation of ≤ 1.26 R⊙, indicating a probable common envelope phase. The Ghostly Cheerio's projected radial expansion is slow, averaging . See also * List of NGC objects (6001–7000) This is a list of NGC objects 6001–7000 from the New General Catalogue (NGC). The astronomical catalog An astronomical catalog or catalogue is a list or tabulation of astronomical objects, typically gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coronograph
A coronagraph is a telescopic attachment designed to block out the direct light from a star so that nearby objects – which otherwise would be hidden in the star's bright glare – can be resolved. Most coronagraphs are intended to view the corona of the Sun, but a new class of conceptually similar instruments (called ''stellar coronagraphs'' to distinguish them from ''solar coronagraphs'') are being used to find extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks around nearby stars as well as host galaxies in quasars and other similar objects with active galactic nuclei (AGN). Invention The coronagraph was introduced in 1931 by the French astronomer Bernard Lyot; since then, coronagraphs have been used at many solar observatories. Coronagraphs operating within Earth's atmosphere suffer from scattered light in the sky itself, due primarily to Rayleigh scattering of sunlight in the upper atmosphere. At view angles close to the Sun, the sky is much brighter than the background co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White Dwarf
A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes from the emission of residual thermal energy; no fusion takes place in a white dwarf. The nearest known white dwarf is at 8.6 light years, the smaller component of the Sirius binary star. There are currently thought to be eight white dwarfs among the hundred star systems nearest the Sun. The unusual faintness of white dwarfs was first recognized in 1910. The name ''white dwarf'' was coined by Willem Luyten in 1922. White dwarfs are thought to be the final evolutionary state of stars whose mass is not high enough to become a neutron star or black hole. This includes over 97% of the other stars in the Milky Way. After the hydrogen- fusing period of a main-sequence star of low or medium mass ends, such a star will expand to a red giant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
R Coronae Borealis
R Coronae Borealis is a low-mass yellow supergiant star in the constellation of Corona Borealis. It is the prototype of the R Cor Bor class of variable stars, which fade by several magnitudes at irregular intervals. R Coronae Borealis itself normally shines at approximately magnitude 6, just about visible to the naked eye, but at intervals of several months to many years fades to as faint as 15th magnitude. Over successive months it then gradually returns to its normal brightness, giving it the nickname "reverse nova", after the more common type of star which rapidly increases in brightness before fading. Nomenclature R Coronae Borealis is a faint naked eye star, but does not have any traditional names. Johann Bayer did not give it a Greek letter designation although it is marked on his map. John Flamsteed numbered all the Bayer stars but did not add any additional designations for fainter stars, so R Coronae Borealis does not appear in either of these two catalogu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plasma Recombination
Plasma recombination is a process by which positive ions of a plasma capture a free (energetic) electron and combine with electrons or negative ions to form new neutral atoms (gas). Recombination is an exothermic reaction, meaning heat releasing reaction. Except for plasma composed of pure hydrogen (or its isotopes), there may also be multiple charged ions. Therefore, a single electron capture results in decrease of the ion charge, but not necessarily in a neutral atom or molecule. Recombination usually takes place in the whole volume of a plasma (volume recombination), although in some cases it is confined to some special region of it. Each kind of reaction is called a recombining mode and their individual rates are strongly affected by the properties of the plasma such as its energy (heat), density of each species, pressure and temperature of the surrounding environment. Uses An everyday example of rapid plasma recombination occurs when a fluorescent lamp is switched off. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Advection
In the field of physics, engineering, and earth sciences, advection is the transport of a substance or quantity by bulk motion of a fluid. The properties of that substance are carried with it. Generally the majority of the advected substance is also a fluid. The properties that are carried with the advected substance are conserved properties such as energy. An example of advection is the transport of pollutants or silt in a river by bulk water flow downstream. Another commonly advected quantity is energy or enthalpy. Here the fluid may be any material that contains thermal energy, such as water or air. In general, any substance or conserved, extensive quantity can be advected by a fluid that can hold or contain the quantity or substance. During advection, a fluid transports some conserved quantity or material via bulk motion. The fluid's motion is described mathematically as a vector field, and the transported material is described by a scalar field showing its distribution ov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orion Nebula
The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky with apparent magnitude 4.0. It is away and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light-years across (so its apparent size from Earth is approximately 1 degree). It has a mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun. Older texts frequently refer to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in Orion or the Great Orion Nebula. The Orion Nebula is one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky and is among the most intensely studied celestial features.Press release,Astronomers Spot The Great Orion Nebula's Successor", Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 2006. The nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
H II Region
An H II region or HII region is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized. It is typically in a molecular cloud of partially ionized gas in which star formation has recently taken place, with a size ranging from one to hundreds of light years, and density from a few to about a million particles per cubic centimetre. The Orion Nebula, now known to be an H II region, was observed in 1610 by Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc by telescope, the first such object discovered. The regions may be of any shape because the distribution of the stars and gas inside them is irregular. Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, The short-lived blue stars created in these regions emit copious amounts of ultraviolet light that ionize the surrounding gas. H II regions—sometimes several hundred light-years across—are often associated with giant molecular clouds. They often appear clumpy and filamentary, sometimes showing intricate shapes such as the Horsehead Nebula. H II regio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Champagne Flow
A champagne flow is an astrophysical event whereby an HII region inside a molecular cloud expands outward until it reaches the interstellar medium. At that point, the ionized hydrogen gas bursts outward like an uncorked champagne bottle. This event is also sometimes called a Blister. An HII region is created by ionization from a recently formed star (usually an O-star) inside a molecular cloud. The champagne model is perhaps one of the first numerical calculations of the propagation of ionisation fronts and of the expansion of HII regions that did not assume a constant density medium around the massive exciting star. The model assumes that star formation takes place in a dense cloud, surrounded and in pressure equilibrium with a low density inter-cloud gas. The ample supply of UV photons generated by the star rapidly establishes an HII region and the expansion of this, sooner or later allows also for the ionisation of the inter cloud gas. Ionisation disrupts then the former pres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elephant Trunk (astronomy)
Elephant trunks (more formally, cold molecular pillars) are a type of interstellar matter formations found in molecular clouds. They are located in the neighborhood of massive O type and B type stars, which, through their intense radiation, can create expanding regions of ionized gas known as H II regions. Elephant trunks resemble massive pillars or columns of gas and dust, but they come in various shapes, lengths, and colors. Astronomers study elephant trunks because of their unique formation process and use 2-D and 3-D simulations to try to understand how this phenomenon occurs. Formation O type and B type stars are a classification of stars that strongly emit ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The UV radiation causes the surrounding cloud of hydrogen gas to ionize, forming H II regions. The gas does not ionize evenly throughout the cloud, therefore there are clumps of denser gas scattered throughout the cloud. These dense clumps are called evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs), an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
