MWC 922: The Red Square Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Peter Tuthill (Sydney U.)& James Lloyd (Cornell)
Explanation: What could cause a nebula to appear square? No one is quite sure. The hot star system known as
MWC 922, however, appears to be embedded in a nebula with just such a shape. The
featured image combines
infrared exposures from the
Hale Telescope on
Mt. Palomar in
California, and the
Keck-2 Telescope on
Mauna Kea in
Hawaii. A leading progenitor hypothesis for the
square nebula is that the central
star or stars somehow expelled cones of gas during a late
developmental stage. For
MWC 922, these cones happen to incorporate nearly
right angles and be visible from the sides. Supporting evidence for the
cone hypothesis includes radial spokes in the image that might run along the
cone walls. Researchers speculate that the
cones viewed from another angle would appear similar to the gigantic rings of
supernova 1987A, possibly indicating that a star in MWC 922 might one day itself explode in a similar
supernova.
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