Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Lyra (Lyr)  ·  Contains:  IC 1296  ·  M 57  ·  NGC 6720  ·  Ring Nebula
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M57 - The Ring Nebula (aka Little Easter Egg Nebula), Phillip Hahn
M57 - The Ring Nebula (aka Little Easter Egg Nebula)
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M57 - The Ring Nebula (aka Little Easter Egg Nebula)

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M57 - The Ring Nebula (aka Little Easter Egg Nebula), Phillip Hahn
M57 - The Ring Nebula (aka Little Easter Egg Nebula)
Powered byPixInsight

M57 - The Ring Nebula (aka Little Easter Egg Nebula)

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Description

The Ring Nebula was formed 20,000 years ago when the central star ejected large amounts of ionized gas. This caused nuclear fusion to stop and a white dwarf was formed, which is now slowly cooling over billions of years. Without nuclear fusion to heat the star, the remaining mass will compress and eventually it will become a crystalline black dwarf. But these have never been observed - presumably even the oldest white dwarfs from the beginnings of the universe have not yet cooled down enough to form any.

The molecular cloud expands with about 20km/s and has meanwhile a diameter of 1.3 light-years. But it will take a long time until it reaches the earth, as the nebula is 2300 light years away from us.

Because it is so small and colorful, my wife likes to call it the Little Easter Egg Nebula.

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