Hubble telescope captures images of Stingray nebula in its 'final stages of life'

NASA astromers have been sounding worried about rapidly fading gases of star Hen 3-1357, youngest Planetary Nebula in . In stills captured by NASA’s Hubble Telescope, scientists discovered that Stingray Nebula has been fading precipitously since past two decades as its brightness diminished frantically. Hubble captured two ims 20 years apart. first im was taken with Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in March 1996, where aging star appeared in good shape, but in second im taken in 2020, nebula’s central star was seen in its final sts of life. 

“Nebula that has drastically dimmed in brightness and changed shape. Bright, blue, fluorescent tendrils and filaments of gas toward center of nebula have all but disappeared, and wavy edges that earned this nebula its aquatic-med name are virtually gone,” NASA informed in a release.

NASA said in a release that once bright and young nebula was longer standing out against black velvet background of vast universe. “This is very, very dramatic, and very weird,” said team member Martín A. Guerrero of Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Granada, Spain. “What we’re witnessing is a nebula’s evolution in real-time. In a span of years, we see variations in nebula. We have t seen that before with clarity we get with this view.”

[This im compares two drastically different portraits of Stingray nebula captured by NASA’s Hubble Telescope 20 years apart. im on left, taken with Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in March 1996, shows nebula’s central star in final sts of its life. Credit: NASA]

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'Dying star' at center

Scientists discovered a reduction in glowing nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen in dying star at center of nebula. According to astromers, dip in oxygen emission levels diminished brightness by a factor of nearly 1,000 between 1996 and 2016. “Changes in nebulae have been seen before, but what we have here are changes in fundamental structure of nebula,” said Bruce Balick of University of Washington, Seattle, who led research on Stingray Nebula. He added that nebula was getting fainter at an unprecedented rate. “This is something confirmed with Hubble’s visual acuity,’ he informed. Scientists found that nebula was nearing its death as its star SAO 244567 expanded due to a temperature drop, emitting less ionising radiation. Astromers speculated that nebula will become almost undetectable in 20 or 30 years.

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