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A new X - shaft of light aspect at the spellbinding Helix Nebula divulge an supposed planet killer : a white dwarf that might be the origin of foreign emission from the nebula .
The Helix Nebula , also know as Caldwell 63 , is 650 light - age from Earth , according toNASA . It ’s the remains of a perish virtuoso , which is bit by bit shedding its outer gas layers into the surrounding space . Stellar radiation causes the flatulence to glow like a giant ring , which dilute about 3 swooning - eld across , according toNASAobservations .
The Helix Nebula, also known as Caldwell 63, is 650 light-years from Earth.
Now , a new flavor at the nebula compound ten - ray emissions detected by NASA ’s Chandra X - ray Observatory , visible light seen by theHubble Space Telescope , infrared lighting detected by the European Southern Observatory ’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy , and ultraviolet light detected by NASA ’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer space telescope .
This broad - spectrum view revealed the remnants of the die white dwarf star that created the nebula , and indicate that this dying genius may have gobble up an orbiting satellite that fly too close to its dying sun . Tidal force from the white dwarf look to have ripped the nearby planet to tittle and then pull its leftover pieces onto the white dwarf ’s control surface , triggering potent X - beam of light flares .
Related:25 gorgeous nebula photos that capture the beauty of the universe
Our own sunwill also pop off as a white dwarf , which is the final stage for medium - aggregated stars that die hard out of fuel . blank dwarfs gradually dim and coolheaded until they wink out of existence altogether . In the Helix Nebula , the star ejects spicy natural gas into place , and that gasolene cools and decrease back toward the star . tendril of red-hot gas and one-time cooling throttle collide and create intricate , mile - like patterns that appear a snatch like comet .
— White dwarfs wear the crush cadaver of planets
— Some dead sensation blot out celestial spring of juvenility
— This collapsed star is turning into a giant diamond
In December 2024 , a research squad moderate bySandino Estrada - Dorado , an astrophysicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico , report in the journalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societythat unexplained decade - ray emissions from the nebula are potential the final result of material from a " substellar donor fellow traveler " falling into the dying star . Substeller object do n’t undergo hydrogen merger , as pass off in stars . They includebrown dwarfs(or " fail stars " ) , former stars and planets .
If the livid dwarf at the center did eat on a major planet , it has something else in vulgar with Earth ’s sun . By the time the sun reaches the bloodless dwarf degree , it will have pass through a red giant phase angle , tumefy in size and engulfing our planet ( and those closer to it ) . Luckily for us , this wo n’t happen until5 billion age from now , when the sun begins to melt down low on fuel .
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