Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2019 July 11 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. The Ghost of Jupiter's Halo Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]CHART32 Team, Processing - [5]Johannes Schedler / [6]Volker Wendel Explanation: [7]Close-up images of NGC 3242 show the cast off shroud of a dying, sun-like star fancifully known as The Ghost of Jupiter nebula. But this deep and [8]wide telescopic view also finds the seldom seen outer halo of the beautiful planetary nebula at the upper left, toward Milky Way stars and background galaxies in the serpentine constellation Hydra. Intense and otherwise invisible ultraviolet radiation from the nebula's central white dwarf star powers its illusive glow in visible light. [9]In fact, planets of NGC 3242's evolved white dwarf star may have contributed to the nebula's symmetric features and shape. Activity beginning in the star's red giant phase, long before it produced a planetary nebula, is likely the cause of the fainter more extensive halo. About a light-year across NGC 3242 is some 4,500 [10]light-years away. The tenuous clouds of glowing material at the right could well be interstellar gas, [11]by chance close enough to the NGC 3242's white dwarf to be energized by its ultraviolet radiation. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space __________________________________________________________________ [12]< | [13]Archive | [14]Submissions | [15]Index | [16]Search | [17]Calendar | [18]RSS | [19]Education | [20]About APOD | [21]Discuss | [22]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [23]Robert Nemiroff ([24]MTU) & [25]Jerry Bonnell ([26]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [27]Specific rights apply. [28]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC & [32]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1907/NGC3242haloChart32.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. http://chart32.de/index.php/group 5. http://panther-observatory.com/ 6. http://www.spiegelteam.de/ 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap051029.html 8. http://www.chart32.de/component/k2/planetaty/ngc3242 9. http://spider.seds.org/spider/Misc/n3242.html 10. https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.10721 11. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/galex/galex-20090403.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190710.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 16. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 21. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190711 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190712.html 23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 25. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 26. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 28. http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 29. http://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 30. http://www.nasa.gov/ 31. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 32. http://www.mtu.edu/