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. 2003 February
20 Explanation: A cold wind blows from the central star of the
Boomerang Nebula. Seen here in a detailed false-color image
recorded in 1998 by the Hubble Space Telescope, the nebula lies
about 5,000 light-years away towards the grand southern
constellation of Centaurus. The symmetric cloud appears to have
been created by a high-speed wind of gas and dust blowing from
an aging central star at speeds of nearly 600,000 kilometers per
hour. This rapid expansion has cooled molecules in the nebular
gas to about one degree above absolute zero - colder than even
the cosmic background radiation - making it the coldest region
observed in the distant Universe. Shining with light from the
central star reflected by dust, the frigid Boomerang Nebula is
believed to be a star or stellar system evolving toward the
planetary nebula phase. Autho