Pinwheel nebula A pinwheel nebula is a class of Wolf–Rayet nebula in the shape of a pinwheel. Wolf–Rayet nebulae Some Wolf–Rayet stars are surrounded by pinwheel nebulae. These nebulae are formed from the dust that is spewed out of a binary star system. The stellar winds of the two stars collide and form two dust lanes that spiral outward with the rotation of the system.[1] The first such nebula, located around WR 104, was discovered using the Keck Observatory in 1999.[2] The discovery of a second, WR 98a, established pinwheel nebulae as a distinct class of nebula.[1] Pinwheel GalaxyM101, better known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, was historically known as the Pinwheel Nebula[3][4] before Edwin Hubble realized that many spiral shaped nebulae were actually 'island universes' or what we now call galaxies.[5] References
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