- Boomerang Nebula
Protoplanetary nebula
caption=The Boomerang Nebula. Credit:NASA /ESA
name = Boomerang Nebula
epoch =J2000
ra = RA|12|44|45.45Harvard reference | Surname1 = SIMBAD | Title = Results for Boomerang Nebula | Authorlink = SIMBAD | Journal = | Year = 2007 | Date =January 4 2007 | Publisher = SIMBAD, Centre de Données Astronomiques de Strasbourg | URL = http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?protocol=html&Ident=Boomerang+Nebula ]
dec = DEC|-54|31|11.4
dist_ly = convert|5|kly|kpc|abbr=off|lk=on
size_v = 1′.445 × 0′.724
constellation =Centaurus
names = Centaurus Bipolar NebulaThe Boomerang Nebula (also called the Bow Tie NebulaHarvard reference | last = Cauchi first = Stephen | Title = Coolest bow tie in the universe | newspaper =The Sydney Morning Herald | Year = 2003 | month = February | Date =February 21 2003 | AccessDate =February 2 2007 | URL = http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/20/1045638427695.html ] ) is aprotoplanetary nebula located 5,000 light-years away fromEarth in the Centaurus constellation. The nebula is measured at convert|1|K|°C °F|abbr=on|lk=on, the coldest place known in the universe. The Boomerang Nebula was formed from the outflow of gas from a star at its core. The gas is moving outwards at a speed of about 164km/s and expanding rapidly as it moves out into space. This expansion is the cause of the nebula's very low temperature.The Boomerang Nebula was photographed in detail by the
Hubble Space Telescope in 1998. It is believed that the nebula is astar orstellar system evolving toward the planetary nebula phase.Keith Taylor and Mike Scarrott called it the 'Boomerang Nebula' in 1980 after observing it with the Anglo-Australian telescope at the
Siding Spring Observatory . Unable to view it with the same detail as with the Hubble, the astronomers saw merely a slight asymmetry in the nebula's lobes, suggesting a curved shape like a boomerang. The high-resolution Hubble images indicate that the 'Bow Tie Nebula' would perhaps have been a better name.The Boomerang Nebula is one of the Universe's peculiar places. In 1995, using the 15-metre Swedish ESO Submillimetre Telescope in Chile, astronomers revealed that it is the coldest place in the Universe found so far. With a temperature of −272 °C, it is only 1 kelvin warmer than absolute zero (the lowest limit for all temperatures). Even the −270 °C background glow from the
Big Bang is warmer than this nebula. It is the only object found so far that has a temperature lower than the background radiation.. The Boomerang Nebula is also listed as [http://server2.sky-map.org/starview?object_type=2&object_id=8142 PGC 3074547] ,References
External links
* cite journal | last = Sahai | first = Raghvendra | authorlink = | coauthors = Nyman, Lars-Åke | year = 1997 | month = | title = The Boomerang Nebula: The Coldest Region of the Universe? | journal = The Astrophysical Journal | volume = 487 | issue = | pages = L155–L159 | doi = 10.1086/310897 | url = | accessdate = | quote =
*cite news |first=Malcolm W. |last=Browne |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Chilliest of Stars |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E1DC1F3EF937A15755C0A961958260 |work=New York Times |publisher= |date=June 24, 1997 |accessdate=
* [http://www.esa.int/esaSC/Pr_1_2003_h_en.html The Boomerang Nebula - The Coolest Place in the Universe?] , ESA, 20 February 2003
* [http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/scattered_light_from_boomerang.html Hubble's View of the Boomerang Nebula] , 13 September 2005; see also [http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2005/25/image/a Scattered Light from the Boomerang Nebula]
* [http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0301.html ESA/Hubble-Boomerang Nebula]
* [http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?protocol=html&Ident=Boomerang+Nebula SIMBAD] , Coordinates and Scientific data.January 4 ,2007 .
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