Chandra Release - June 13, 2001

Visual Description: NGC 7027

The Chandra X-ray Observatory image shows a planetary nebula named NGC 7027, which is a type of celestial object formed when a sun-like star dies and its outer layers are ejected into space.  The dominant colors in the image are red and orange.  Chandra's image of NGC 7027 represents the first detection of X-rays from this young planetary nebula that is about 3,000 light years from Earth. A bubble of 3 million degree Celsius gas with a length about a hundred times that of our solar system is shown in the image. The image is brighter to the upper right – the side of the nebula nearest the Earth – where there is less obscuring material to block the X-ray emission.