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. October 28,
1998 Explanation: A Turtle in Space? Planetary nebula NGC 6210
may look like a giant space turtle, but it is actually much more
massive and violent. Fortunately, this gas cloud in Hercules
lies about 6500 light years away. NGC 6210 was investigated with
the Hubble Space Telescope because it showed evidence of unusual
relative abundances of nebular gas. The resulting detailed
representative-color picture, above, shows jets of hot gas
streaming through holes in an older, cooler shell of gas. The
central star that created the planetary nebula is clearly
visible in the center of the inset image. Analyses of data
involving this recently released picture may help explain the
origin of chemical abundances in this nebula and our Galaxy.
Authors & editors: NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific
rights apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA