I thought we could use a little brightness in our lives today. Wish I could pass it on to all those families who are mourning today.
I give you part of the Great Universe.
2007 April 16
Credit & Copyright:Peter Tuthill (Sydney U.) and James Lloyd (Cornell)
Explanation:What could cause a nebula to appear square? No one is quite sure. The hot star system known asMWC 922, however, appears to be imbedded in a nebula with just such a shape. Theabove image combinesinfrared exposures from theHale Telescope onMt. Palomar inCalifornia, and theKeck-2 Telescope onMauna Kea inHawaii. A leading progenitor hypothesis for thesquare nebula is that the central star or stars somehow expelled cones of gas during a latedevelopmental stage. ForMWC 922, these cones happen to incorporate nearlyright angles and be visible from the sides. Supporting evidence for thecone hypothesis includes radial spokes in the image that might run along the cone walls. Researchers speculate that the cones viewed from another angle would appear similar to the gigantic rings ofsupernova 1987A, possibly indicating that a star in MWC 922 might one day itself explode in a similarsupernova.
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