ESA/Hubble & NASA; acknowledgement: Marc Canale
This image from Hubble’s Wide Field
Planetary Camera 2 showcases NGC 1501, a complex planetary nebula located in
the large but faint constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe).
Discovered by William Herschel in 1787,
NGC 1501 is a planetary nebula that is just under 5,000 light-years away from
us. Astronomers have modeled the three-dimensional structure of the nebula,
finding it to be a cloud shaped as an irregular ellipsoid filled with bumpy and
bubbly regions. It has a bright central star that can be seen easily in this
image, shining brightly from within the nebula’s cloud. This bright pearl
embedded within its glowing shell inspired the nebula’s popular nickname: the
Oyster Nebula.
While NGC 1501's central star blasted
off its outer shell long ago, it still remains very hot and luminous, although
it is quite tricky for observers to spot through modest telescopes. This star
has actually been the subject of many studies by astronomers due to one very
unusual feature: it seems to be pulsating, varying quite significantly in
brightness over a typical timescale of just half an hour. While variable stars
are not unusual, it is uncommon to find one at the heart of a planetary nebula.
It is important to note that the colors in this image are arbitrary.
Text credit: European Space Agency
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