This oddly colorful nebula is the supernova remnant IC 443 as seen by NASA's Wide-field Infrared review Explorer, or WISE. Also known as the Jellyfish nebula, IC 443 is mainly interesting because it provides a look into how stellar explosions relate with their environment. IC 443 can be found near the star Eta Geminorum, which lies near Castor, one of the twins in the group Gemini. Just like human beings, stars have a life cycle they are born, mature and finally die. The way in which stars die depends on their mass. Stars with mass alike to the sun characteristically become planetary nebulae at the end of their lives, whereas stars with many times the sun's collection explode as supernovae.
IC 443 is the remains of a star that go supernova somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago. The explosion from the supernova sent out shock waves that travel through space, sweeping up and heating the nearby gas and dust in the interstellar medium, and creating the supernova remnant seen in this image. What is unusual about the IC 443 is that its shell-like form has two halve that have dissimilar radii, structures and emissions. The better northeastern shell, seen here as the violet colored semi circle on the top left of the supernova remainder, is composed of sheet like filaments that are emit light from iron, neon, silicon and oxygen gas atoms, in addition to dust particle, all heated by the blast from the supernova.
The smaller southern shell, seen here in a bright cyan color on the base half of the image, is constructed of denser clumps and knots chiefly emitting light from hydrogen gas and heated dust. These clumps are division of a molecular cloud, which can be seen in this image as the greenish cloud hurtful across IC 443 from the northwest to southeast. The color differences seen in this image represent dissimilar wavelengths of infrared emission. The differences in color are also the result of difference in the energies of the shock influence hitting the interstellar medium. The northeastern shell was most likely shaped by a fast shock wave, whereas the southern shell was perhaps created by a slow shock wave.
IC 443 is the remains of a star that go supernova somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago. The explosion from the supernova sent out shock waves that travel through space, sweeping up and heating the nearby gas and dust in the interstellar medium, and creating the supernova remnant seen in this image. What is unusual about the IC 443 is that its shell-like form has two halve that have dissimilar radii, structures and emissions. The better northeastern shell, seen here as the violet colored semi circle on the top left of the supernova remainder, is composed of sheet like filaments that are emit light from iron, neon, silicon and oxygen gas atoms, in addition to dust particle, all heated by the blast from the supernova.
The smaller southern shell, seen here in a bright cyan color on the base half of the image, is constructed of denser clumps and knots chiefly emitting light from hydrogen gas and heated dust. These clumps are division of a molecular cloud, which can be seen in this image as the greenish cloud hurtful across IC 443 from the northwest to southeast. The color differences seen in this image represent dissimilar wavelengths of infrared emission. The differences in color are also the result of difference in the energies of the shock influence hitting the interstellar medium. The northeastern shell was most likely shaped by a fast shock wave, whereas the southern shell was perhaps created by a slow shock wave.
No comments:
Post a Comment