Southern Crab Nebula

Southern Crab Nebula
Emission nebula
Planetary nebula
The Southern Crab Nebula in its entirety
Credit: NASA/ESA
Observation data: J2000 epoch
Right ascension 14h 11m 52.06s[1]
Declination −51° 26′ 24.1″[1]
Distance 7,000 ly (2,100 pc)[2] ly
Constellation Centaurus
Notable features Has a symbiotic star system at its center
Designations V852 Cen, Hen 2-104, IRAS 14085-5112, PN G315.4+09.4, Wray 16-147, 2MASS J14115206-5126241

The Southern Crab Nebula or Hen 2-104 is a nebula in the constellation Centaurus. The nebula is several thousand light years from Earth, and its central star is a symbiotic Mira variable - white dwarf pair. It is named for its resemblance to the Crab Nebula, which is in the northern sky.

The nebula had already been observed using Earth-based telescopes, but images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (shown) in 1999 have provided much more detail, revealing that at the center of the nebula are a pair of stars, a red giant and a white dwarf.

Close up of the center of the Nebula, courtesy of NASA/ESA

References

  1. 1 2 "Hen 2-104". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg.
  2. ↑ "The Southern Crab Nebula, a planetary nebula in Centaurus". Anne's Astronomy News. Retrieved 22 January 2017.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.