Abell 70

Click on image for larger version.

In a universe such as ours, even the highly unlikely seems to happen surprisingly often. Here the superposition of two objects, a forground planetary nebula and a background galaxy, make a striking diamond-ring effect. Indeed the carbon that makes a diamond would be found in the extended envelope of this star that has cast off its outer shell of gas. Heavy elements such as oxygen, carbon, silicon and a host of others are manufactured in the cores of stars. It is only in their deaths that this material is released into our galaxy to form everything form precious stones to people. The background galaxy then becomes a symbol of this process because it is through stellar evolution that Galaxies show a diverse spectrum of shape and color.

Equipment

20in RC Optical Systems telescope Operating at f/8.4
Paramount ME Robotic Telescope Mount
SBIG ST10XME CCD camera with color filter wheel

L R G B color production was used to create this image.

Luminance = 100 minutes binned 1x1
 Red = 20 minutes binned 2x2
 Green = 20 minutes binned 2x2
 Blue = 20 minutes binned 2x2
  • Part of the data was acquired through significant clouds. The other portion was taken during seeing that exceeded 3".
  • The orginal luminance was blended with an aggressively deconvolved image.

    • Minimum credit line: Mike Durkin and Lily Joe/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

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    Updated: 05/12/2005