Categories: Astrophotos

Astrophoto: A Well-Rounded Glow

The bubble nebula Abell 39. Credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

In theory, planetary nebulae should be simple and spherical, like the soap bubbles you made as a child. But only a rare few actually are! Here’s an example of one of the almost perfectly round planetary nebulae.

“Abell 39 is the quintessential bubble nebula with spherical form,” writes Adam Block, who is an avid astrophotographer, as well as the Public Observing Programs Coordinator at the Mount Lemmon Sky Center in Tucson, Arizona. “As this is a ‘true color”‘(broadband) image, it is difficult to show the limb brightening and the variations in the transparent shell like narrowband images do. I am glad to finally have this one in the collection of recent work.”

See more information about this image at the Mount Lemmon Sky Center’s website

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

Recent Posts

The Hubble Space Telescope is a Powerful Science Instrument Despite its Age

This Hubble image shows a supernova named SN 2022aajn in a distant galaxy about 600…

9 hours ago

ESA is Building its Own Lunar Lander

It seems everyone is talking about the Moon and everyone wants to get their foot…

9 hours ago

SETI Researchers Double-Checked 1 Million Objects for Signs of Alien Signals

We can't help ourselves but wonder about life elsewhere in the Universe. Any hint of…

12 hours ago

White Dwarfs Pause Their Cooling, Giving Planets a Second Chance for Habitability

When a star like the Sun dies, it puffs away its outer layers, leaving behind…

14 hours ago

High-Resolution Imaging of Dyson Sphere Candidate Reveals no Radio Signals

In the more than sixty years where scientists have engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial…

2 days ago

Measuring Lightsail Performance in the Lab

Sailing has been a mainstay of human history for millennia, so it's no surprise that…

3 days ago