The Spirograph Nebula, IC 418, is a young planetary nebula in Lepus, a reddish oval whose fine looping texture resembles a pattern drawn with a spirograph.
At a glance
| type | nebula |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 4,450 light-years (1.36 kpc) |
| its light left it | 4,450 years ago |
| size in the piece | about 0.15 light-years acrossmodel |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with. Model marks a property of the piece’s galaxy model rather than a measurement.
About Spirograph Nebula
IC 418 is a planetary nebula in the winter constellation Lepus, below Orion. It is young: the dying star at its centre has only recently shed its outer layers and is still contracting towards a white dwarf. Its gas is dense and compact, and in colour images a red outer rim of glowing nitrogen and hydrogen surrounds a bluer interior where oxygen is ionised.
A Hubble image revealed a delicate, woven texture across the shell, like the overlapping loops of a spirograph toy, and gave it its nickname. Its central star also varies in brightness over short spans of time, a sign that its wind and surface are still unsettled as it moves towards the end of its life.
What you see in the piece
In the piece it is a tiny knot of glowing gas below the plane of the disc in the direction of Lepus, a point from the Sun.
Measured or modelled
The origin of the fine spirograph-like texture is not understood; it may come from irregular winds from the central star.
Questions
Why is IC 418 called the Spirograph Nebula?
A Hubble image showed a fine pattern of overlapping loops across its shell, resembling the curves drawn with a spirograph toy.
How far away is the Spirograph Nebula?
The Spirograph Nebula is 4,450 light-years (1.36 kpc) from the Sun.