Odd-Shaped Nebula
This inhabitant of the cosmological zoo, known to astronomers by the
decidedly dry name IC 4406, is a planetary nebula imaged during the ongoing
shakedown cruise of the European
Southern Observatory's Very Large
Telescope, the first of a series of 8.2-meter telescopes now under
construction. Planetary nebulas are usually oval or round and consist of
expanding concentric rings of gas around a hot central star. This nebula
with the weird geometry lives in the constellation Lupus, approximately
5,000 light years from Earth.
This inhabitant of the cosmological zoo, known to astronomers by the
decidedly dry name IC 4406, is a planetary nebula imaged during the ongoing
shakedown cruise of the European
Southern Observatory's Very Large
Telescope, the first of a series of 8.2-meter telescopes now under
construction. Planetary nebulas are usually oval or round and consist of
expanding concentric rings of gas around a hot central star. This nebula
with the weird geometry lives in the constellation Lupus, approximately
5,000 light years from Earth.