NASA's Hubble Releases New Image of the Stunning "Necklace Nebula"

The Hubble Space Telescope recently released a new image of the "Necklace Nebula," described by the European Space Agency (ESA) as "a diamond necklace of cosmic proportions."

The appropriately named "Necklace Nebula," was imaged by the Hubble using new and more advanced technology to offer a clearer, more stunning view of the planetary nebula - located 15,000 light-years away from Earth, within the distant constellation of Sagitta (the Arrow).

NASA, in its latest release, linked to a previous image of the Necklace Nebula dating back to 2011, and shows the significant improvement in quality comparing the 2011 shot to the latest one, a composite image taken from several shots using the Wide Field Camera 3 onboard the Hubble Space Telescope.

Born from an Age-Long Stellar Conflict

The text description provided by ESA in the NASA press release explains that the interaction between "two doomed stars" created the Necklace Nebula, formally designated as PN G054.203.4. Specifically, it was a pair of Sun-like stars orbiting each other to form the planetary object. About 10,000 years ago, one of these stars expanded, engulfing its smaller twin in the process in an event astronomers call a "common envelope."

The smaller of the two, however, continued to orbit within its larger partner, increasing the giant's rotation rate until parts of it began spinning outwards into the space around them. It created debris that later became parts of the Necklace Nebula, with the dense clumps of gas creating the "diamonds" in the "necklace." These tightly packed masses of gas glow as they receive ultraviolet light from the nearby stars, giving the appearance of spaced bright spots all over the planetary nebula.

Even as the Necklace Nebula has taken form, enough to be imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, the two stars in conflict at the center of it all continue to closely orbit each other. Although they remain millions of miles apart, they are relatively close by astronomical standards and orbit each other in just over a day.

Hubble Space Telescope

While the Hubble Space Telescope has its design and hardware remain largely unchanged between the 2011 and the 2021 imaging attempts of the Necklace Nebula, it has undergone drastic improvements in terms of its software such as its image processing technology - leading to the clearer, more vivid image of the nebula in the latest release.

To allow the Hubble Space Telescope to accommodate the rapidly-changing technology, and as a way to future-proof the long-term space project, it was designed to accommodate servicing missions - which works for both maintaining the craft and adding the relevant upgrades.

The last of these missions was the Servicing Mission 4 (SM4), delivered by a seven-member crew aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis back in 2009. This mission was a success, with the SM4 crew completing five spacewalks in total, equivalent to 37 man-hours in space.

The Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission included replacing its data-handling unit, the repair of its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) systems, and the installation of newer nickel-hydrogen batteries, and more.

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