Post by glactus on Apr 20, 2009 21:21:57 GMT
NGC 2818
The unique planetary nebula NGC 2818 is nested inside the open star cluster NGC 2818A. Both the cluster and the nebula reside 10,400 light-years away in the southern constellation of Pyxis, also called the Compass. Apparent magnitude is 8.2
NGc 2818 could well offer a glimpse of the future that awaits our own Sun in about five billion years
This planetary nebulae is one of the few in our galaxy located within an open cluster. Open clusters, in general, are loosely bound and they disperse over hundreds of millions of years.
Stars that form planetary nebulae typically live for billions of years. Hence, it is rare that an open cluster survives long enough for one of its members to form a planetary nebula.This open cluster is particularly ancient, estimated to be nearly one billion years old.
The image above is roughly 6.5 light-years wide and is a composite of separate exposures made by the WFPC2 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope.
Credits: This is a NASA/ Hubble image
www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1270.html