Credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA, L. Stanghellini
This image from the NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope contains an impressive M1-63 portrait, a beautifully captured example of a bipolar planetary nebula in the constellation Scutum (the shield).
A nebula like this is formed when the star in its center sheds large amounts of material from its outer layers, leaving behind a spectacular cloud of gas and dust.
It is believed that a binary system of stars in the center of the bipolar nebula is capable of creating hourglass or butterfly-like shapes as in this image.
This is because the material of the star pouring out is drawn to the poles, using the companion, creating the characteristic double-shaped structure in nebulae such as M1-63.
Image: Hubble notices an interstellar interaction
Quotation: Image: Hubble takes portrait of nebula (2021, February 13) detected on February 14, 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2021-02-image-hubble-portrait-nebula.html
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