New Research Suggests Our Sun Won"t Form a Planetary Nebula

You have probably heard that the Sun will turn into a red giant in about 5 billion years. And you probably know that this will result in not-so-fun times for any being still on planet Earth. As it transitions from a main sequence star into a red giant, the outer layers of the Sun will expand across the solar system. When this happens, our life-giving star will turn into an object of utter destruction. The Sun will expand beyond Mercury. It will expand beyond Venus. It will sweep across the entirety of the inner solar system in a mere 5 million years. When it finally stops its expansion, the searing tips of the solar surface will rest beyond the bounds of Earth’s orbit. In short: if we aren’t knocked out of the solar system as the Sun expands, or moved into a larger orbit as it loses mass...we will be consumed.

But what happens to the Sun after it becomes a red giant? We have a pretty good handle on the fate of our own world...but what about the Sun itself?

We once thought it would turn into a planetary nebula, but we might be wrong on that one.

Read More: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/new-research-suggests-our-sun-wont-form-a-planetary-nebula/

Image Credit: ESO/S. Steinhöfel

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 12/24/13 - The Christmas Ornament Nebula

Happy Holidays from those of us here on the FQTQ team. To get in the festive spirit, we thought we would showcase one of the "christmassy" nebulae out there. This particular one, curiously dubbed the "Christmas Ornament nebula" (also known as NGC 5189), is a planetary nebula that can be found approximately 1,780 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Musca.

The planetary nebula stage of stellar evolution is one of the last few transitions a sun-like star experiences as the star begins to die. As the process of death culminates - resulting in the destruction of anything too close by - stars of this type begin "bleeding" out material into the interstellar medium. This material is subsequently shaped by a number of different phenomena (like stellar winds), thus forming a brilliant nebula similar to the one seen here.

Incredibly (and luckily for us), no two planetary nebulae have looked identical visually.

References & Further Reading: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/apod-christmas-ornament-nebula/

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 12/17/13 - The Helix Nebula

While the most stunning deep space image that has ever been taken is debatable (*cough* sh2–239 *cough*), in my not-so-humble opinion, this image of NGC 7293 (also known as the Helix nebula, or the Eye of God) is by far one of the creepiest. Its resemblance to a human eye is so uncanny, I can"t resist making a silly joke about how Santa Claus is a 4 dimensional creature that obviously lives here on his off-time ("He sees you when you"re sleeping. He knows when you"re awake. He knows if you"ve been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake.")

On a more serious note, The Helix Nebula is located approximately 700 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius. It"s a planetary nebula by designation, which means the nebula was born following the death of a medium-mass, or sun-like star. Before the star died, leaving behind a dense core called a white dwarf, the star shed the remainder of its outer envelope of gasses off into space, thus forming a nebula. As the material continues to expand outward from the central star, it will eventually disperse, rendering the likeness to the human eye obsolete.

Overall, the nebula extends about 2.5 light-years across. Meaning, it"s larger in size than our entire solar system. In fact, light could make it half of the way from the sun to the sun"s nearest neighbor (in the Alpha Centauri star system) before it could travel from one side of the Helix nebula to the other one.

Sources, Further Reading & Additional Resources: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-121713-the-helix-nebula/

Image Credit: Optical: NASA, WIYN, NOAO, ESA, Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner (STScI), & T. A. Rector (NRAO) Infrared: ESO/VISTA/J. Emerson (Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit) Ultraviolet: NASA/AP