The Boomerang Nebula: Coldest Place in the Universe
The Boomerang Nebula
Located about 5,000 light years away from Earth, the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest place found in the universe so far. The temperature of the nebula has been measured at -272.15 degrees Celsius/-457.87 degrees Fahrenheit. So what makes this nebula so cold?
The Boomerang Nebula, which is also known as the Bow Tie Nebula, was formed by the outflow of gas from an aging central star at speeds of nearly 600,000 kilometers per hour. It is thought the star is losing as much as one-thousandth of a solar mass of material per year for 1,500 years. This rapid expansion of gas has cooled molecules in the nebula to about one degree above absolute zero. This is even colder than the cosmic background radiation found throughout much of the universe.
- False Color Image of the Boomerang Nebula
The light from the nebula is from the central star and is being reflected by dust. It is believed that this beautiful nebula is still very young and will evolve into the more familiar planetary nebula with bubble like lobes. Planetary nebulae form around a bright, central star when it expels gas in the last stages of it’s life.
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
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trunkpunk replied:
March 12th, 2012 at 10:15 pm
Now that’s cold.
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it’s beautiful
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i can say the rainbow one that is “the coldest place in the universe” looks like a multi-coloured butterfly lol.
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YES, amen to all that! I was just emailing a frnied about the universe and how much it wants all our dreams to come true. The only thing in the way is ourselves. I used to get down about things and a frnied told me how much her mom now loves the memories of when she and her dad were so poor. It’s all part of the grand picture. I SO agree!
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So why does rapid expansion of gas cool it down?
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