Posted on Sep 13, 2020

APOD: 2020 September 13 - M2 9: Wings of a Butterfly Nebula

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Good afternoon, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "M2-9: Wings of a Butterfly Nebula." Also known as Minkowski's Butterfly and the Twin Jet Nebula, M2-9 is a planetary nebula that was discovered by Rudolph Minkowski in 1947. It is located about 2,100 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus (above Sagittarius and Scorpius). This bipolar nebula takes the peculiar form of twin lobes of material that emanate from a central binary star.

The primary component of the central binary is the hot core of a star that reached the end of its main-sequence life cycle, ejected most of its outer layers and became a red giant, and is now contracting into a white dwarf. It is believed to have been a sun-like star early in its life. The second, smaller star of the binary orbits very closely and may even have been engulfed by the other's expanding stellar atmosphere with the resulting interaction creating the nebula. Astronomers theorize that the gravity of one star pulls some of the gas from the surface of the other and flings it into a thin, dense disk extending into space.

APOD: 2020 September 13 - M2 9: Wings of a Butterfly Nebula

Posted from apod.nasa.gov

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Jazzmasters 4, Voice of the Angels

Photographs of beautiful nebula set to the ultra smooth sound of Paul Hardcastle's "Voice Of The Angels" from The Jazzmasters 4 CD on Hardcastle Records. Lis...

Thank you my friend Maj William W. 'Bill' Price for posting the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for Sunday September 13, 2020 entitled "M1: The Crab Nebula from Hubble.

This cropped image of a section of God's creation in the heavens reminds me of the bi-focal camera pictures I remember as a child. When looked at properly the images in those cases became a singular image :-)

Image: M2-9: Wings of a Butterfly Nebula - Image Credit- Hubble Legacy Archive, NASA, ESA - Processing- Judy Schmidt

APOD background
"Explanation: Are stars better appreciated for their art after they die? Actually, stars usually create their most artistic displays as they die. In the case of low-mass stars like our Sun and M2-9 pictured here, the stars transform themselves from normal stars to white dwarfs by casting off their outer gaseous envelopes. The expended gas frequently forms an impressive display called a planetary nebula that fades gradually over thousands of years. M2-9, a butterfly planetary nebula 2100 light-years away shown in representative colors, has wings that tell a strange but incomplete tale. In the center, two stars orbit inside a gaseous disk 10 times the orbit of Pluto. The expelled envelope of the dying star breaks out from the disk creating the bipolar appearance. Much remains unknown about the physical processes that cause and shape planetary nebulae."

Jazzmasters 4, Voice of the Angels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv0IJ0RLdps

FYI Maj Robert Thornton Lt Col Charlie Brown COL Mikel J. Burroughs Sgt (Join to see) PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen SGT Denny Espinosa Sgt Vance Bonds MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. TSgt David L. SPC Nancy Greene PO2 (Join to see) SSG Michael Noll SGT Denny Espinosa SPC Margaret Higgins Maj Marty Hogan TSgt Joe C.

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