The nebula of the ring, picture of November of the Montsec Astronomical Observatory

2017-12-11 00:00:00
The nebula of the ring, picture of November of the Montsec Astronomical Observatory
Each month the Observatori Astronòmic del Montsec (OAdM) of IEEC publishes an outstanding image from the observations made there. In November the protagonist is the nebula of the ring.

Novembre OAdM

The ring nebula is one of the best known celestial objects, visible throughout the summer and autumn in the constellation of the Lira. Also known as M57 in the Messier catalog, it is a planetary nebula, resulting from the expulsion of the outer envelope at the end of the evolution of a star similar to the Sun. The nucleus of the old star, now in the form of a white dwarf, can be seen in the middle of the nebula, and its ultraviolet light is responsible for ionizing gas atoms in the nebula, such as helium ( blue), hydrogen and oxygen (green) and nitrogen and sulfur (red).

The image was captured with the telescope Joan Oró, from the Astronomical Observatory of Montsec, using several broadband filters and a total of 1 hour exposure time.

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