ESO Captures Sharp images of the Unique Toby Jug Nebula

Astronomers from the ESO captured very sharp and clear images of a nebula IC 2220, named Toby Jug Nebula because of its appearance. These images were captured with the help of its VLT (Very Large Telescope).

The Toby Jug Nebula comprises of dust and gas, which encompasses an enormous large red star .This nebula is present in the Carina constellation situated in the southern sky, around 1200 light years away from Earth. This is classified as a reflection nebula comprising of gas and dust clouds, which radiated because of the red giant star called HD 65750.

 The red giant star weighs five times more than our Sun, though the  star is younger than the Sun, it is around 50 million years. Comparatively, this star is at an advanced stage of its life than the Sun. After undergoing transformations, the star lost its mass to its surrounding space and created the nebula.

This celestial body was closely examined using infrared light and the researchers credited silicon dioxide or silica for the illumination of the star. Elements such as carbon and simple, heat-resistant compounds like calcium oxide (lime) and titanium dioxide are the basic ingredients of the dust comprising the clouds.

The cloud spans about one-light-year and the short-lived red giant star makes this celestial body more unique. These stars have a layer of helium on top of the carbon-oxygen core along with a hydrogen shell closer to its surface. These are short-lived stars because of their speedy evolution, which cuts down the levels of hydrogen, which play a key role in fuelling all the reactions that take place throughout the life of the star. This cut in the reactions triggers the atmosphere of the star.

Our Sun is likely to go through the same process and transform into a giant red star after billions of years and affect all the planets including Earth as the solar atmosphere will expand enormously. This would destroy all the life forms, though the Earth itself is expected to be in a bad condition by that time. This solar transformation would evaporate all the water and melt all the planets around with the amount of radiations it will generate.