A Cosmic Hamburger
Hold the pickles; hold the lettuce. Space is serving up giant hamburgers. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has snapped a photograph of a strange object that bears an uncanny resemblance to a hamburger.
The object, nicknamed Gomez's Hamburger, is a sun-like star nearing the end of its life. It already has expelled large amounts of gas and dust and is on its way to becoming a colorful, glowing planetary nebula. The ingredients for the giant celestial hamburger are dust and light. The hamburger buns are light reflecting off dust and the patty is the dark band of dust in the middle.
Credit:About the Image
About the Object
Name: | Gomez Nebula, Gomez's Hamburger, IRAS 18059-3211 |
Type: | Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary |
Distance: | 1600 light years |
Constellation: | Sagittarius |
Category: | Nebulae |
Wallpapers
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 18 9 13.46 |
Position (Dec): | -32° 10' 48.62" |
Field of view: | 0.45 x 0.46 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 50.7° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical B | 450 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |
Optical V | 555 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |
Optical R | 675 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |