The Red Giant That Powers The Toby Jug Nebula

Wednesday, October 9, 2013 - 10:20 in Astronomy & Space

The Toby Jug Nebula, formally known as IC 2220, is an example of a reflection nebula - a cloud of gas and dust illuminated from within by a star called HD 65750.   The Toby Jug Nebula is located 1,200 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Carina  - The Ship's Keel.  HD 65750 , the driver of the nebula, is a red giant, has five times the mass of our Sun and is in a much more advanced stage of its life, despite its comparatively young age of around 50 million years. Stars with more mass run through their lives much more quickly than lighter ones such as the Sun, which have lives measured in billions, rather than millions, of years. read more

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