Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2019 July 11
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                         The Ghost of Jupiter's Halo
   Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]CHART32 Team, Processing - [5]Johannes
                         Schedler / [6]Volker Wendel

   Explanation: [7]Close-up images of NGC 3242 show the cast off shroud of
   a dying, sun-like star fancifully known as The Ghost of Jupiter nebula.
   But this deep and [8]wide telescopic view also finds the seldom seen
   outer halo of the beautiful planetary nebula at the upper left, toward
   Milky Way stars and background galaxies in the serpentine constellation
   Hydra. Intense and otherwise invisible ultraviolet radiation from the
   nebula's central white dwarf star powers its illusive glow in visible
   light. [9]In fact, planets of NGC 3242's evolved white dwarf star may
   have contributed to the nebula's symmetric features and shape. Activity
   beginning in the star's red giant phase, long before it produced a
   planetary nebula, is likely the cause of the fainter more extensive
   halo. About a light-year across NGC 3242 is some 4,500 [10]light-years
   away. The tenuous clouds of glowing material at the right could well be
   interstellar gas, [11]by chance close enough to the NGC 3242's white
   dwarf to be energized by its ultraviolet radiation.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [23]Robert Nemiroff ([24]MTU) & [25]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([26]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [27]Specific rights apply.
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                A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC
                           & [32]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1907/NGC3242haloChart32.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. http://chart32.de/index.php/group
   5. http://panther-observatory.com/
   6. http://www.spiegelteam.de/
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap051029.html
   8. http://www.chart32.de/component/k2/planetaty/ngc3242
   9. http://spider.seds.org/spider/Misc/n3242.html
  10. https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.10721
  11. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/galex/galex-20090403.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190710.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  16. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  21. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190711
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190712.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  25. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  26. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  28. http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  29. http://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  30. http://www.nasa.gov/
  31. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  32. http://www.mtu.edu/