The Jelly Doughnut in Lyra: Hubble reveals the Ring Nebula’s true shape,"Things are not as simple as we previously thought."

Well, are they ever?

The Ring Nebula's distinctive shape makes it a popular illustration for astronomy books. But new observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of the glowing gas shroud around an old, dying, sun-like star reveal a new twist. "The nebula is not like a bagel, but rather, it's like a jelly doughnut, because it's filled with material in the middle," said C. Robert O'Dell of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. He leads a research team that used Hubble and several ground-based telescopes to obtain the best view yet of the iconic nebula. The images show a more complex structure than astronomers once thought and have allowed them to construct the most precise 3-D model of the nebula. -- NASA -

Bland Old RingNebula:

New Jelly Doughnut Nebula:

Posted by gerardvanderleun at May 24, 2013 6:58 PM