Astronomy Picture of the Day -- MWC 922: The Red Square Nebula

NASA ^ | December 16, 2012 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: What could cause a nebula to appear square? No one is quite sure. The hot star system known as MWC 922, however, appears to be embedded in a nebula with just such a shape. The above image combines infrared exposures from the Hale Telescope on Mt. Palomar in California, and the Keck-2 Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. A leading progenitor hypothesis for the square nebula is that the central star or stars somehow expelled cones of gas during a late developmental stage. For MWC 922, these cones happen to incorporate nearly right angles and be visible from the sides. Supporting evidence for the cone hypothesis includes radial spokes in the image that might run along the cone walls. Researchers speculate that the cones viewed from another angle would appear similar to the gigantic rings of supernova 1987A, possibly indicating that a star in MWC 922 might one day itself explode in a similar supernova.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit & Copyright: Peter Tuthill (Sydney U.) & James Lloyd (Cornell)]

[SunkenCiv]

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[David Isaac]

I think the “Black Widow Nebula” would be more descriptive (red hourglass, and all that).

[muawiyah]

Easy to think off this one as manufactured ~ and maybe already going somewhere else.

Eventually somebody will come up with its relative movement in that part of the universe.

[left that other site]

I REALLY REALLY LIKE that one!

[grey_whiskers]

Cheers!

[grey_whiskers]

The very bright patch in the center looks like someone is cutting the very fabric of the space-time continuum from the outside with an box cutter and letting the light in.

Cheers!

[martin_fierro]

What could cause a nebula to appear square?

Hey, it could happen.