Journey to Spiral Planetary Nebula NGC 5189 in Musca | Hubble

Journey to Spiral Planetary Nebula NGC 5189 in Musca | Hubble

Beginning with a wide view of the constellations Crux (The Southern Cross) and Musca (The Fly), this video zooms in through ground based imagery to Hubble’s view of NGC 5189, a planetary nebula with a striking ribbon-like structure.

NGC 5189 (Gum 47, IC 4274, nicknamed the Spiral Planetary Nebula) is located in the constellation Musca. It was discovered by James Dunlop on July 1, 1826. Seen through the telescope it seems to have an S shape. Hubble Space Telescope imaging analysis has demonstrated that this S shape structure is from two dense low-ionization regions—one moving toward the north-east and another one moving toward the south-west of the nebula. This could be a result of a recent outburst from the central star. 

Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2, A. Fujii

Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Dec. 18, 2012

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