Hubble Space Telescope detects a ‘Cosmic Necklace’

NASA says Hubble has detected a ‘Cosmic Necklace’, which is a spectacular ring adorned with bright clumps of gas created with the interaction of two doomed stars. The view looks like a diamond necklace in the cosmic proportion.

The object is named as ‘Necklace Nebula’, which lies 15 thousand light years away from Earth in the small, dim constellation of Sagitta.

Astronomers assume that a pair of tightly orbiting Sun-like stars produced the Necklace Nebula. They estimate that nearly 10 thousand years ago, one of the aging stars expanded and engulfed its smaller companion, creating something astronomers call a ‘common envelope’. Then the smaller star continued to orbit inside its larger companion, increasing the bloated giant’s rotation rate until large parts of it spun outwards into space. In that way, this escaping ring of debris formed the Necklace Nebula, with particularly dense clumps of gas forming the bright ‘diamonds’ around the ring.

Astronomers further state that the pair of stars, which created the Necklace Nebula, are separated by only several million miles. They remain so close together that they appear as a single bright dot in the center of the image. Despite their close encounter, the stars are still furiously whirling around each other. The stars complete an orbit in just over a day.

We are really thankful to the ESA, Hubble and NASA for the wonderful view of this cosmic reality.