A Cosmic Hamburger

Hold the pickles; hold the lettuce. Space is serving up giant hamburgers. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has snapped a photograph of a strange object that bears an uncanny resemblance to a hamburger.

The object, nicknamed Gomez's Hamburger, is a sun-like star nearing the end of its life. It already has expelled large amounts of gas and dust and is on its way to becoming a colorful, glowing planetary nebula. The ingredients for the giant celestial hamburger are dust and light. The hamburger buns are light reflecting off dust and the patty is the dark band of dust in the middle.

Credit:

NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

About the Image

NASA press release
Id:opo0219a
Type:Observation
Release date:1 August 2002, 06:00
Size:1800 x 1830 px

About the Object

Name:Gomez Nebula, Gomez's Hamburger, IRAS 18059-3211
Type:Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary
Distance:1600 light years
Constellation:Sagittarius
Category:Nebulae

Image Formats

r.titleLarge JPEG
920.4 KB
r.titleScreensize JPEG
233.6 KB

Wallpapers

r.title1024x768
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r.title1280x1024
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r.title1600x1200
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r.title1920x1200
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r.title2048x1536
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Coordinates

Position (RA):18 9 13.46
Position (Dec):-32° 10' 48.62"
Field of view:0.45 x 0.46 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 50.7° left of vertical


Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Optical
B
450 nm Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Optical
V
555 nm Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Optical
R
675 nm Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2

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