Recently, NGC 7027's central star was identified in a new wavelength of light — near-ultraviolet — for the first time by using Hubble's unique capabilities. The near-ultraviolet observations will help reveal how much dust obscures the star and how hot the star really is.
This object, which resembles a colorful jewel bug, is a visibly diffuse region of gas and dust that may be the result of ejections by closely orbiting binary stars that were first slowly sloughing off material over thousands of years, and then entered a phase of more violent and highly directed mass ejections. Hubble first looked at this planetary nebula in 1998. By comparing the old and new Hubble observations, researchers now have additional opportunities to study the object as it changes over time.
Planetary nebulas are expanding shells of gas created by dying stars that are shedding their outer layers. When new ejections encounter older ejections, the resulting energetic collisions shape the nebula. The mechanisms underlying such sequences of stellar mass expulsion are far from fully understood, but researchers theorize that binary companions to the central, dying stars play essential roles in shaping them.
NGC 7027 is approximately 3,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.
Credits
Image
NASA, ESA, Joel Kastner (RIT)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 7027 |
| Object Description | Planetary Nebula |
| R.A. Position | 21:07:01.7 |
| Dec. Position | +42:14:11 |
| Constellation | Cygnus |
| Distance | 3000 light-years |
| Dimensions | Image is 116 arcmin across (about 1 light-year) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST observations include those from programs (J. Kastner) |
| Instrument | WFC3/UVIS and IR |
| Exposure Dates | 30 observations between Nov 2019 and Apr 2020 |
| Filters | F343N, F487N, F502N, F656N, F658N, F673N, F110W, F128N, F130N, F160W, F164N |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3/UVIS and WFC3/IR instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F343N, F487N, F502N, F110W Green: F656N, F673N Red: F128N, F130N, F160W |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
