2023

Gaia Observes a Cosmic Clock Inside a Large Planetary Nebula

Lobel, A. ; Sordo, R. ; Creevey, O. ; Garcia-Lario, P. ; Thevenin, F. ; Roegiers, T. ; DPAC, CU8


Released on 2023-11-04

Abstract: The ESA Gaia mission website recently published an image of a planetary nebula, supplemented with three years of data gathered by the satellite. Inside this object, twinkles a blue dot with a very regular pulse of light. This is the mother binary star system of the planetary nebula. Truly a hefty cosmic clock in our galaxy.

Keyword(s): ESA/Gaia/DPAC ; Planetary Nebula ; ESA-Gaia photometry ; ESA-Gaia spectroscopy
Links: link; link2
Funding: Belspo/Prodex2023/Prodex2023


The record appears in these collections:
Royal Observatory of Belgium > Astronomy & Astrophysics
Outreach > Press Releases

 Record created 2026-02-03, last modified 2026-02-04