The eruption of a dying star has been made into a 3D movie.
One of the most famous stellar ghosts in the sky is the Cat's Eye Nebula, and a team of scientists has reconstructed it.
Some of the previously unexplained parts of the nebula's structure were revealed by their model.
It gives us some insight into what might happen to our own Sun if we don't get the results right.
There is a planetary nebula called the Cat's Eye Nebula. The term came about because their round shape resembles planets. After a star runs out of fuel to burn and dies, it leaves behind a collection of nebulae.
One of the most complex examples to date is the Cat's Eye Nebula. It has a round shape, but its interior is dominated by a lozenge shaped structure filled with knots and shells.
It's one of the most studied stars in the sky, but some aspects of its structure are a little puzzling.
The interacting stellar winds model doesn't make it easy to explain them.
The star puffs up to a red giant and creates a wind that pushes material into space.
A white dwarf is formed when the star's outer material is ejected into space and the core is no longer supported by fusion.
The very hot white dwarf causes a fast stellar wind that slams into the material in the slower wind and creates shells.
The Cat's Eye Nebula is not compatible with this model.
Ryan says he was amazed by the Cat's Eye Nebula when he first saw it. I was surprised that it wasn't fully understood.
He took action about it. He enlisted the help of an astronomer from Mexico and an astronomer from Canada to help him understand what is happening in the Cat's Eye Nebula.
The data provided by the Hubble Space Telescope was used in the film.
The motions of the gas inside the nebula were revealed by the data from the San Pedro Martir National Observatory.
The three-dimensional model they constructed revealed that the spirals of high density gas were partially wrapped around the outer shell.
The rings are thought to be the result of high-speed jets ejected from the stars poles. The jets came out in a spiral shape because the star that produced them was wobbling.
The jets only erupted for a short time before being stopped.
There is only one thing that can make a jet in a planetary nebula. The star at the center of the Cat's Eye is thought to be a Wolf-Rayet type, not quite a white dwarf, but still losing mass as it burns through its fuel reserves. Some truly spectacular nebulae can be created by stars with each other.
There may be a companion at the center of the Cat's Eye Nebula. That interpretation is supported by this new finding.
Future observations and analysis will be able to take this model into account to better understand the dynamics of this fascinating nebula.
It was rewarding to be able to do astrophysical research of my own and have an impact.
It's important to understand howcessing jets contribute to the shaping of more complex systems like the Cat's Eye. Understanding how they form gives us insight into the fate of our Sun, which will eventually become a planetary nebula.
The research has been published in a journal.
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