Hubble image archive
Cepheid Variable Star RS Puppis
This festive NASA Hubble Space Telescope image resembles a holiday wreath made of sparkling lights. The bright southern hemisphere star RS Puppis, at the center of the image, is swaddled in a gossamer cocoon of reflective dust illuminated by the glittering star. The super star is...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2013
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2013-51-3263-image
This festive NASA Hubble Space Telescope image resembles a holiday wreath made of sparkling lights. The bright southern hemisphere star RS Puppis, at the center of the image, is swaddled in a gossamer cocoon of reflective dust illuminated by the glittering star. The super star is ten times more massive than our Sun and 200 times larger.
RS Puppis rhythmically brightens and dims over a six-week cycle. It is one of the most luminous in the class of so-called Cepheid variable stars. Its average intrinsic brightness is 15,000 times greater than our Sun's luminosity.
The nebula flickers in brightness as pulses of light from the Cepheid propagate outwards. Hubble took a series of photos of light flashes rippling across the nebula in a phenomenon known as a "light echo." Even though light travels through space fast enough to span the gap between Earth and the Moon in a little over a second, the nebula is so large that reflected light can actually be photographed traversing the nebula.
By observing the fluctuation of light in RS Puppis itself, as well as recording the faint reflections of light pulses moving across the nebula, astronomers are able to measure these light echoes and pin down a very accurate distance. The distance to RS Puppis has been narrowed down to 6,500 light-years (with a margin of error of only one percent).
Credits
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-Hubble/Europe Collaboration;Acknowledgment: H. Bond (STScI and Pennsylvania State University)
Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | RS Puppis |
| Object Description | Cepheid Variable |
| R.A. Position | 08h 13m 04s.22 |
| Dec. Position | -34° 34' 42".70 |
| Constellation | Puppis |
| Distance | 6,500 light-years (2,000 parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | ACS/WFC data of RS Puppis were obtained as part of the HST proposal : H. Bond (STScI and Pennsylvania State University), W. Sparks (STScI), P. Kervella (Observatoire de Paris), A. Merand (European Southern Observatory), D. Bersier (Liverpool John Moores University), P. Fouque (Observatoire Midi-Pyrenees), E. Pompei (European Southern Observatory), G. Perrin (Observatoire de Paris), and V. Scowcroft (Carnegie Institution of Washington) |
| Instrument | HST>ACS/WFC |
| Exposure Dates | March 26, 2010, Exposure Time: 35 minutes |
| Filters | F435W (B) and F606W (V) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Several filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F435W (B) Green: F435W (B) + F606W (V) Red: F606W (V) |
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Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
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