That's Odd -- Butterfly-Shaped Planetary Nebulae Tend to be Mysteriously Aligned
The final stage of life for a star like our Sun results in the star blowing its outer layers into the surrounding space, forming an object known as a planetary nebula. Planetary nebulae are created in a wide range of beautiful and striking shapes. One type, known as the Bipolar Planetary Nebulae, takes on a ghostly hourglass or butterfly shape around its parent star. Astronomers using ESO's New Technology Telescope (NTT) and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have studied 130 planetary nebulae in the central bulge of our galaxy and have made a discovery that has them scratching their heads. It seems that butterfly-shaped planetary nebulae tend to be mysteriously aligned — a surprising result given their different histories and varied properties.
All these nebulae formed in different places and have different characteristics. And neither the individual nebulae, nor the stars that formed them, would have interacted with other planetary nebulae. However, a new study by astronomers from the University of Manchester in the UK, now shows surprising similarities between some of these nebulae -- Many of them line up in the sky in the same way.
"This really is a surprising find and, if it holds true, a very important one," explains Bryan Rees of the University of Manchester. "Many of these ghostly butterflies appear to have their long axes aligned along the plane of our galaxy. By using images from both Hubble and the NTT we could get a really good view of these objects, so we could study them in great detail."
The astronomers looked at 130 planetary nebulae in the Milky Way's central bulge. They identified three different types, and peered closely at their characteristics and appearance. The shapes of the planetary nebula images were classified into three types, following conventions: elliptical with an aligned internal structure, elliptical without an aligned internal structure, and bipolar.
"While two of these populations were completely randomly aligned in the sky, as expected, we found that the third — the bipolar nebulae — showed a surprising preference for a particular alignment," says Albert Zijlstra, also of the University of Manchester. "While any alignment at all is a surprise, to have it in the crowded central region of the galaxy is even more unexpected."
Planetary nebulae are thought to be sculpted by the rotation of the star system from which they form. This is dependent on the properties of this system — for example, whether it is a binary, or has a number of planets orbiting it, both of which may greatly influence the form of the blown bubble. The shapes of bipolar nebulae are some of the most extreme, and are probably caused by jets blowing mass from the binary system perpendicular to the orbit.
"The alignment we're seeing for these bipolar nebulae indicates something bizarre about star systems within the central bulge," explains Rees. "For them to line up in the way we see, the star systems that formed these nebulae would have to be rotating perpendicular to the interstellar clouds from which they formed, which is very strange."
While the properties of their progenitor stars do shape these nebulae, this new finding hints at another more mysterious factor. Along with these complex stellar characteristics are those of our Milky Way. The whole central bulge rotates around the galactic center. This bulge may have a greater influence than previously thought over our entire galaxy — via its magnetic fields. The astronomers suggest that the orderly behavior of the planetary nebulae could have been caused by the presence of strong magnetic fields as the bulge formed.
As such nebulae closer to home do not line up in the same orderly way, these fields would have to have been many times stronger than they are in our present-day neighborhood.
Very little is known about the origin and characteristics of the magnetic fields that were present in our galaxy when it was young, so it is unclear whether they have grown stronger over time, or decayed.
"We can learn a lot from studying these objects," concludes Zijlstra. "If they really behave in this unexpected way, it has consequences for not just the past of individual stars, but for the past of our whole galaxy."
For more information:
http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1338/
http://www.astromart.com/news/news.asp?news_id=1021
http://www.astromart.com/news/news.asp?news_id=882
http://www.astromart.com/news/news.asp?news_id=849
http://www.astromart.com/news/news.asp?news_id=642
AstroMart News Archive:
http://www.astromart.com/news/search.asp?search=.+
All these nebulae formed in different places and have different characteristics. And neither the individual nebulae, nor the stars that formed them, would have interacted with other planetary nebulae. However, a new study by astronomers from the University of Manchester in the UK, now shows surprising similarities between some of these nebulae -- Many of them line up in the sky in the same way.
"This really is a surprising find and, if it holds true, a very important one," explains Bryan Rees of the University of Manchester. "Many of these ghostly butterflies appear to have their long axes aligned along the plane of our galaxy. By using images from both Hubble and the NTT we could get a really good view of these objects, so we could study them in great detail."
The astronomers looked at 130 planetary nebulae in the Milky Way's central bulge. They identified three different types, and peered closely at their characteristics and appearance. The shapes of the planetary nebula images were classified into three types, following conventions: elliptical with an aligned internal structure, elliptical without an aligned internal structure, and bipolar.
"While two of these populations were completely randomly aligned in the sky, as expected, we found that the third — the bipolar nebulae — showed a surprising preference for a particular alignment," says Albert Zijlstra, also of the University of Manchester. "While any alignment at all is a surprise, to have it in the crowded central region of the galaxy is even more unexpected."
Planetary nebulae are thought to be sculpted by the rotation of the star system from which they form. This is dependent on the properties of this system — for example, whether it is a binary, or has a number of planets orbiting it, both of which may greatly influence the form of the blown bubble. The shapes of bipolar nebulae are some of the most extreme, and are probably caused by jets blowing mass from the binary system perpendicular to the orbit.
"The alignment we're seeing for these bipolar nebulae indicates something bizarre about star systems within the central bulge," explains Rees. "For them to line up in the way we see, the star systems that formed these nebulae would have to be rotating perpendicular to the interstellar clouds from which they formed, which is very strange."
While the properties of their progenitor stars do shape these nebulae, this new finding hints at another more mysterious factor. Along with these complex stellar characteristics are those of our Milky Way. The whole central bulge rotates around the galactic center. This bulge may have a greater influence than previously thought over our entire galaxy — via its magnetic fields. The astronomers suggest that the orderly behavior of the planetary nebulae could have been caused by the presence of strong magnetic fields as the bulge formed.
As such nebulae closer to home do not line up in the same orderly way, these fields would have to have been many times stronger than they are in our present-day neighborhood.
Very little is known about the origin and characteristics of the magnetic fields that were present in our galaxy when it was young, so it is unclear whether they have grown stronger over time, or decayed.
"We can learn a lot from studying these objects," concludes Zijlstra. "If they really behave in this unexpected way, it has consequences for not just the past of individual stars, but for the past of our whole galaxy."
For more information:
http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1338/
http://www.astromart.com/news/news.asp?news_id=1021
http://www.astromart.com/news/news.asp?news_id=882
http://www.astromart.com/news/news.asp?news_id=849
http://www.astromart.com/news/news.asp?news_id=642
AstroMart News Archive:
http://www.astromart.com/news/search.asp?search=.+
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