Rosette Nebula

Science - Rosette Nebula


The Rosette Nebula is an emission nebula located in the constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. It lies at a distance of 5,000 light years from Earth and measures roughly 130 light years in diameter. Altogether, approximately 2500 young stars lie in this nebula. This nebula is comprised of many sections. NGC 2237 is part of the nebulous region (Also used to denote the whole nebula).

 

The radiation from the young stars excites the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10,000 solar masses. The nebula is a region of intense star formation. The stellar winds from the young stars inside the nebula exert pressure on interstellar clouds and the compression leads to ongoing star forming activity in the nebula. The Rosette Nebula contains very hot young stars in its central region. The gas surrounding these stars has a temperature of 6 million kelvins and as a result the stars emit intense amounts of X-ray radiation. The Rosette (or Rosetta) Nebula’s appearance in optical light resembles a rose flower or the rosette, the stylized flower design used in sculptural objects since ancient times, and the nebula was named after the design.


Interesting 2018's discovery about Rosette 

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There is a cavity on the right side. Its layers of gas and dust are being pushed away from its center, leaving a distinctive hole at the center, causing the nebula to resemble a rose. The clouds of dust, hydrogen, helium and many other gases permeating the universe are the building blocks for stars. From these simple molecules, the most massive stars can be born, and that’s exactly how the stars in Rosette’s central cavity came about. 

 

The Rosette Nebula presents an interesting conundrum. The fact that the sizes and ages of its core stars and central cavity don’t comply has baffled astronomers for a long time. When stars are born, their stellar winds and intense radiation tend to expel surrounding gas and dust into the cosmos, in the case of the Rosette Nebula however; the size of the cavity is too small when compared to the age of the central stars. New research, conducted by the University of Leeds and Keele University, have now offered an explanation for the discrepancy, stating it’s due to the unusual shape of its initial molecular cloud. 

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Dr. Christopher Wareing, from the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leeds. “We simulated the stellar wind feedback and formation of the nebula in various molecular cloud models including a clumpy sphere, a thick filamentary disc and a thin disc, all created from the same low density initial atomic cloud. It was the thin disc that reproduced the physical appearance – cavity size, shape and magnetic field alignment — of the Nebula, at an age compatible with the central stars and their wind strengths.” 

Short Scientific Summary


1- Rosette Nebula, NGC 2237, resembles a red rose flower (in optical light)

2- Normally it is red but it can be seen in different colors based on the recorded types of waves and light

3- Contains super hot stars with surrounding gases at temperature of up to 6 millions kelvins producing different colors.

4- Intense star formation and change in the appearance over thousands of years (past & future)

5- There is a mysterious central cavity (still expanding) in it that gives it the appearance of a rose.

6- It was initially a thin disc of dust and gases. Next, the stellar winds and radiation gradually created its central cavity and still are expanding it.



Qur'an - Rosette Nebula

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More than 1400 years ago, the Holy Qur'an described the Rosette Nebula in Chapter 55, Verse 37. Traditionally, the verse has been interpreted as the condition of skies at the end of the world. However, we would like to present a couple of other complementary views too.

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فَإِذَا ٱنشَقَّتِ ٱلسَّمَآءُ فَكَانَتْ وَرْدَةً كَٱلدِّهَانِ

"And when the heaven is rent asunder and becomes red rose, like hot melting oil (or dyed leather)"  55:37

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1- The first part of the verse "And when the heaven is "rent asunder" may refer to items 4, 5 and 6 in the Summary section above. The fact that the central cavity was not there initially. God caused it to split open at some point in time and that's what gives Rosette the appearance of a rose (mentioned in the 2nd part of the verse)! The interesting fact is that the above action is still being performed. The central cavity of Rosette Nebula is continuously expanding, opening up, and it is getting bigger due to stellar winds and radiation! 

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"Rent asunder" may also refer to the following - When a rocket or space shuttle takes off from the Earth and climbs into the space, it moves forward by splitting open the atmosphere. Additionally, using different types of telescopes affords us to gaze into the space and observe things that normally we are not able to see. Therefore, cleaving the sky by a telescope and watching beyond may also match the meaning of the above verse.

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2- The second part of the verse describes the red rose in the sky: "becomes red rose" (Summary, item 1 & 2). Also, the verse means that initially it isn't a red rose but later becomes one, similar to the description of the Summary item 5 & 6. Note that scientifically, the central cavity had not been there initially. As it was explained above in the Science section, the cavity has been forming over many light years and without the cavity, it would not look like a rose. 

 

3- The word  كَالدِّهَانِ  in the verse means "hot melting oil" or "dyed tan leather". The Arabic word used highlights "hot" and "melting". Isn't that the Science Summary item 3 above?! The "dyed tan leather" may refer to how this nebula resembles a painting or artwork done on leather (with various shades of paint).

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Additional Notes:

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The study of kinematic properties, angular momentum and amount of dark matter in the halos of early-type galaxies (ETGs) is limited by the rapid fall-off of the stellar surface brightness. This difficulty can be overcome by using radial velocities of Planetary Nebulae (PNe), which can be obtained much further out than traditional absorption-line kinematics, given their bright emission lines. The Rosette Nebula with scientific name of NGC 2237 is mentioned in verse 37 of Sura Ar-Rahman. Its Radial Velocity is 37.6 czB (where c is the speed of light and zB is the observed relative wavelength shift reduced to the solar-system barycenter, at an epoch equal to the barycentric time of light arrival).

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Video courtesy of WindowsofIslam.com

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