Hubble Discovers New Supernova in Cygnus

[Philosophaie]

Hubble viewed a new Supernova in the constellation Cygnus, IRAS 20068+4051. It's current view from Hubble shows a spiral. Will this increase in size or remain a spiral?

http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1030a/

 

[turbo]

It's not a supernova. It is a protoplanetary nebula, formed when a star uses up much of its lighter fuel and cools, blowing off its outer layers. Eventually, radiation pressure from the host star may herd the dusts and gases into a more spherical arrangement.

 

[Philosophaie]

My mistake. Many Nebulas are created by the exploding of a star.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula

This case is an exception. It is formed by the exploding of a planet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula

This is newsworthy just the same. I will alter my question some. What is the difference in size and shape of a Nebula created by a Supernova and one created by a planetary explosion?

 

[turbo]

No, it is not the exploding of a planet. It is the evolution of a star.

Planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets. They were called that because they often appeared round, faint, and uniform as seen from Earth. Such nebulae had nothing to do with planets (repeat) - they are an evolutionary stage of stars that are NOT going to explode as super novae.

 

[Vagn]

My mistake. Many Nebulas are created by the exploding of a star.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula

This case is an exception. It is formed by the exploding of a planet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula

This is newsworthy just the same. I will alter my question some. What is the difference in size and shape of a Nebula created by a Supernova and one created by a planetary explosion?

Planetary Nebulae are caused by star death, but they are different from a supernova as they have different end results. A star less than 8 solar masses will lose its outer layers as a planetary nebula, and the core will become a hot, white dwarf, which will eventually cool into a black dwarf.
Stars greather than 8 solar masses will undergo a supernova, when the outer layers of the star cast off and the core collapses to form a neutron star or a black hole if the core is sufficiently massive.

Strangely, planetary nebulae don't actually have anything to do with planets and are only named such because Herschel thought the nebulae he observed resembled Uranus. Basically Astronomer's have a strange property wherre they refuse to throw anything away, hence the messy tuning fork for galaxies, the seemingly bizarre order of stellar classifications, and the backwards scale for magnitude.