// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Pinwheel nebula say? It's spinning out of control.
A pinwheel nebula is a class of Wolf–Rayet nebula in the shape of a pinwheel.
Wolf–Rayet nebulae
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Some Wolf–Rayet stars are surrounded by pinwheel nebulae. These nebulae are formed from the dust that is spewed out of a binary star system. The stellar winds of the two stars collide and form two dust lanes that spiral outward with the rotation of the system.[1]
The first such nebula, located around WR 104, was discovered using the Keck Observatory in 1999.[2] The discovery of a second, WR 98a, established pinwheel nebulae as a distinct class of nebula.[1]
Pinwheel Galaxy
[edit]M101, better known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, was historically known as the Pinwheel Nebula[3][4] before Edwin Hubble realized that many spiral shaped nebulae were actually 'island universes' or what we now call galaxies.[5]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Monnier, J. D.; et al. (1999). "Pinwheel Nebula around WR 98a". The Astrophysical Journal. 525 (2): L97–L100. arXiv:astro-ph/9909282. doi:10.1086/312352. PMID 10525463.
- ↑ "Famed WR 104 "Pinwheel" Star Reveals Another Surprise (and Some Relief)". Keck Observatory. 18 March 2025. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
- ↑ Clark, David H.; Clark, Matthew D. H. (2004). Measuring the Cosmos: How Scientists Discovered the Dimensions of the Universe. Rutgers University Press. pp. 86, 148. ISBN 978-0-8135-3404-6. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
- ↑ "Nebula Nicknames". The Telegraph-Herald. 20 July 1921. p. 7. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
- ↑ "From Our Galaxy to Island Universes". American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
External links
[edit]- "The Twisted Tale of Wolf-Rayet 104, First of the Pinwheel Nebulae" Some Wolf–Rayet stars in binaries are close enough that we can image a rotating "pinwheel nebula" showing the dust generated by colliding winds in the binary system, from aperture masking interferometry observations.
- Pinwheel Galaxy from ESA/Hubble
| Visible nebula | |
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| Pre-stellar | |
| Stellar nebula | |
| Post-stellar | |
| Clouds | |
| Morphology | |
| Intergalactic blobs | |
 Lists |
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| Related | |
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