Why were Planetary Nebulae mistakenly given their name centuries ago?
Answer
They appeared as small, fuzzy, planet-like discs in older telescopes.
Planetary Nebulae received their designation due to a historical artifact of observational technology. When viewed through older, less powerful telescopes, the expanding shells of gas expelled by dying medium-mass stars, such as our Sun, appeared as small, round, fuzzy discs. This visual appearance caused early astronomers to incorrectly associate them with planets. In reality, these structures have no physical connection to planets; they are illuminated shells surrounding a hot white dwarf core left behind after the star sheds its outer atmosphere during the red giant phase.
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