hubbleimages
December 17, 1997 -- Supersonic Exhaust from Nebula M2-9
This album can currently be seen in shorter exposure images obtained with the Hubble telescope. It is approximately 10 times the diameter of the orbit of Pluto.
Type models used to design jet engines ("hydrodynamics") show that such a disk can successfully explain the appearance of jet exhaust M2-9.
The high-speed wind of the star enters the surrounding disk, which serves as a nozzle.
The wind is deflected in a perpendicular direction and forms the pair of jets that we see in the image of the nebula.
This is very similar to the process that occurs in a jet engine: The burning and expanding gases are deflected by the walls of the engine through a nozzle to form long, collimated jets of hot air at high speeds.
M2-9 is at 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus.
The observation was made on August 2, 1997 by Camera 2 Wide Field and Planetary Hubble telescope.
In this image, neutral oxygen is shown in red, singly ionized nitrogen in green, and twice ionized nitrogen in blue.
December 17, 1997 -- Supersonic Exhaust from Nebula M2-9
This album can currently be seen in shorter exposure images obtained with the Hubble telescope. It is approximately 10 times the diameter of the orbit of Pluto.
Type models used to design jet engines ("hydrodynamics") show that such a disk can successfully explain the appearance of jet exhaust M2-9.
The high-speed wind of the star enters the surrounding disk, which serves as a nozzle.
The wind is deflected in a perpendicular direction and forms the pair of jets that we see in the image of the nebula.
This is very similar to the process that occurs in a jet engine: The burning and expanding gases are deflected by the walls of the engine through a nozzle to form long, collimated jets of hot air at high speeds.
M2-9 is at 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus.
The observation was made on August 2, 1997 by Camera 2 Wide Field and Planetary Hubble telescope.
In this image, neutral oxygen is shown in red, singly ionized nitrogen in green, and twice ionized nitrogen in blue.