The Ghost of Cassiopeia
Hubble has photographed the “Ghost Nebula,” which has eerie, semitransparent flowing veils of gas and dust. The nebula is being blasted by a torrent of radiation from a nearby, blue-giant star. This animation flips between two views from Hubble. The more colorful image is taken in visible light where the glow of hydrogen gas looks pinkish. By contrast, the green-grayish view is in near-infrared light (IR) which only records light reflected off of dust. The nebula becomes more transparent and ethereal when looking at it in the IR, allowing for background stars to become more visible.
The constellation of Cassiopeia, named after a vain queen in Greek mythology, forms the easily recognisable “W” shape in the night sky. The central point of the W is marked by a dramatic star named Gamma Cassiopeiae.
The remarkable Gamma Cassiopeiae is a blue-white subgiant variable star that is surrounded by a gaseous disc. This star is 19 times more massive and 65 000 times brighter than our Sun. It also rotates at the incredible speed of 1.6 million kilometres per hour — more than 200 times faster than our parent star. This frenzied rotation gives it a squashed appearance. The fast rotation causes eruptions of mass from the star into a surrounding disk. This mass loss is related to the observed brightness variations.
The radiation of Gamma Cassiopeiae is so powerful that it even affects IC 63, sometimes nicknamed the Ghost Nebula, that lies several light years away from the star. IC 63 is visible in this image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
The colours in the eerie nebula showcase how the nebula is affected by the powerful radiation from the distant star. The hydrogen within IC 63 is being bombarded with ultraviolet radiation from Gamma Cassiopeiae, causing its electrons to gain energy which they later release as hydrogen-alpha radiation — visible in red in this image.
This hydrogen-alpha radiation makes IC 63 an emission nebula, but we also see blue light in this image. This is light from Gamma Cassiopeiae that has been reflected by dust particles in the nebula, meaning that IC 63 is also a reflection nebula.
This region is best seen from the Northern Hemisphere during autumn and winter. Though it is high in the sky and visible all year round from Europe, it is very dim, so observing it requires a fairly large telescope and dark skies.
From above Earth’s atmosphere, Hubble gives us a view that we cannot hope to see with our eyes. This photo is possibly the most detailed image that has ever been taken of IC 63, and it beautifully showcases Hubble’s capabilities.
More information
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.
Contacts and sources: .
Mathias Jäger
ESA/Hubble,
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