{"id":7259,"date":"2014-04-09T10:00:19","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T10:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=7259"},"modified":"2014-04-08T18:14:26","modified_gmt":"2014-04-08T18:14:26","slug":"eso-chance-meeting-creates-celestial-diamond-ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=7259","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Chance meeting creates celestial diamond ring"},"content":{"rendered":"

An announcement from European Southern Observatory (ESO)<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Chance Meeting Creates Celestial Diamond Ring<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Click to Enlarge<\/a><\/div>\n

Astronomers using ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope in Chile have captured this eye-catching image of planetary nebula PN A66 33 \u2014 usually known as Abell 33. Created when an aging star blew off its outer layers, this beautiful blue bubble is, by chance, aligned with a foreground star, and bears an uncanny resemblance to a diamond engagement ring. This cosmic gem is unusually symmetric, appearing to be almost circular on the sky.<\/p>\n

Most stars with masses similar to that of our Sun will end their lives as white dwarfs \u2014 small, very dense, and hot bodies that slowly cool down over billions of years. On the way to this final phase of their lives the stars throw their atmospheres out into the space and create planetary nebulae, colourful glowing clouds of gas surrounding the small, bright stellar relics.<\/p>\n

This image, captured by ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows the remarkably round planetary nebula Abell 33, located roughly 2500 light-years from Earth. Being perfectly round is uncommon for these objects \u2014 usually something disturbs the symmetry and causes the planetary nebula to display irregular shapes\u00a0[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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