PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 29 (UPI) -- In the spirit of Halloween, NASA has released images of three \"ghostly\" stellar objects -- planetary nebulas -- captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. <\/p>\n
Planetary nebulas are in fact material ejected from stars, as their wispy bits and pieces are blown outward into space in the stars' death throes, Spitzer scientists said. <\/p>\n
\"Some might call the images haunting,\" Joseph Hora of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the principal investigator of the Spitzer observing program, said. \"We look to the pictures for a sense of the history of the stars' mass loss, and to learn how they evolved over time.\" <\/p>\n
Planetary nebulas, erroneously named such by William Herschel in 1785 for their resemblance to planets, come in an array of shapes. <\/p>\n
The three images from Spitzer include a brain-like orb called PMR 1 nicknamed the \"Exposed Cranium\" nebula by Spitzer scientists; NGC 3242, also known as the Ghost of Jupiter, 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Hydra; and the Little Dumbbell Nebula, so named for its butterfly shape. <\/p>\n
The Spitzer Space Telescope mission is managed for NASA's Science Mission Directorate by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
See the article here:<\/p>\n
NASA releases 'ghostly' stellar images in time for Halloween<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 29 (UPI) -- In the spirit of Halloween, NASA has released images of three \"ghostly\" stellar objects -- planetary nebulas -- captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope Continue reading