PIA04214: Mysterious object He2-90
 Target Name:  mysterious object
 Mission:  Hubble Space Telescope
 Instrument:  WFPC2
 Product Size:  3000 x 2400 pixels (w x h)
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA04214.tif (6.584 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA04214.jpg (488.7 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have stumbled upon a mysterious object that is grudgingly yielding clues to its identity. A quick glance at the Hubble picture at top shows that this celestial body, called He2-90, looks like a young, dust-enshrouded star with narrow jets of material streaming from each side. But it's not. The object is classified as a planetary nebula, the glowing remains of a dying, lightweight star. But the Hubble observations suggest that it may not fit that classification, either. The Hubble astronomers now suspect that this enigmatic object may actually be a pair of aging stars masquerading as a single youngster. One member of the duo is a bloated red giant star shedding matter from its outer layers. This matter is then gravitationally captured in a rotating, pancake-shaped accretion disk around a compact partner, which is most likely a young white dwarf (the collapsed remnant of a sun-like star). The stars cannot be seen in the Hubble images because a lane of dust obscures them. The image can be viewed at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2000/24/image/a/.

Image Credit:
NASA, Raghvendra Sahai (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lars-Ake Nyman (European Southern Observatory Chile & Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden

Image Addition Date:
1999-12-01