NASA Shares Photo Of Hourglass-Shaped Nebula Made By Dying Stars

NASA recently shared a stunning photo captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. It features a crab-shaped nebula that was created by the interaction between two aging and dying stars.

The spectacular cosmic structure featured in Hubble’s photo has been identified as Hen 2-104, which is also known as the Southern Crab Nebula. It is located in the Centaurus constellation and lies about 7,000 light-years from Earth’s neighborhood.

According to NASA, the overall shape of the nebula was formed due to the emissions of its two stars. One of these stellar objects is an aging red giant star. As it nears the final stage of its life cycle, the red giant star has started to shed off its outer layers.

The stellar materials being ejected by the red giant star are getting pulled by the gravitational force of a nearby burned-out white dwarf. The interaction between the two stars triggers the formation of a cosmic disk of gas and other stellar materials.

“The result is that both stars are embedded in a flat disk of gas stretching between them,” NASA explained in a statement. “This belt of material constricts the outflow of gas so that it only speeds away above and below the disk. The result is an hourglass-shaped nebula.”

As for the nebula’s protruding pillar-like structures that resemble crab legs, NASA noted that these were formed due to the concentration of gas and dust. These materials flowed out from the inner portion of the nebula due to the interaction between the red giant star and a white dwarf.

As explained by NASA, these leg-like features became prominent because the edges of streams of gas and dust often appear the brightest.

“The bubbles of gas and dust appear brightest at the edges, giving the illusion of crab leg structures,” the agency explained. “These "legs" are likely to be the places where the outflow slams into surrounding interstellar gas and dust, or possibly material which was earlier lost by the red giant star.”

NASA shared the photo of the Southern Crab Nebula as part of its celebration for the anniversary of Hubble’s launch. The space telescope was originally launched by NASA on April 24, 1990. For 30 years, Hubble has helped the agency discover various remarkable cosmic structures and stellar events in the universe.