Image sig07-003

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Image Gallery > Astronomical Images > Other Milky Way Objects > sig07-003

NASA/JPL-Caltech/N. Smith (UC Berkeley)

Luminous Blue Variable: Destined To Be a Supernova?

A Luminous Blue Variable star (inset) in our galaxy, named HD168625, surrounded by a bipolar nebula that is similar to the one around SN1987A. SN1987A was a supernova that exploded in 1987 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and was the nearest supernova in about 400 years.

The diagram explains the bipolar nebula around HD168625, which has a geometry that makes it a near twin of the famous nebula around SN1987A. Rings near the equator are sometimes seen around stars that shed mass from their surfaces, but the larger rings above the poles are very rare. Tipped toward Earth and illuminated by the star, the rings look like ellipses in images taken with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

The image was taken in 2004 by the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope at wavelengths between 3.6 and 8 microns. The massive star at the center, which lies within the constellation Sagittarius, is about 7,200 light-years from Earth.

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About the Object (1)
Object name: HD168625
Object type: nebula around Luminous Blue Variable star
Position (J2000): RA: 18h 21m 19.55s Dec: -16° 22' 26.10"
Distance: 2.2 kpc
Constellation: Sagittarius
Magnitude: 8.4 (V)

About the Data

Spitzer Data

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/N. Smith (UC Berkeley)
Instrument: IRAC
Wavelength: 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 8.0 (red) microns
Exposure Date: 5-6 Oct. 2004
Exposure Time: 2.4 seconds per exposure
Image scale: 3.6 x 3.6 arcmin
Orientation: North is 61.9 deg CW from up
Release Date: 2007/01/09

INDIVIDUAL IMAGES

IRAC image of HD168625
Screen-Resolution (450x450): JPEG
High-Resolution (720x720): JPEG | Mac TIFF | PC TIFF
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/N. Smith (UC Berkeley)

Diagram without image of HD168625
Screen-Resolution (450x315): JPEG
High-Resolution (2642x1852): JPEG | Mac TIFF | PC TIFF
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

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