View source for Astronomy:Pinwheel nebula

A '''pinwheel nebula''' is a ''nebulous region'' in the shape of a pinwheel.

==Spiral galaxies==
{{main|Spiral galaxy}}
The term 'Pinwheel nebula' is an antiquated misnomer used by observers before [[Biography:Edwin Hubble|Edwin Hubble]] realized that many of these spiral shaped nebulae were actually 'island universes' or what we now call galaxies.{{Citation needed|reason=We need a citation for this use of pinwheel.|date=December 2018}}

==Wolf–Rayet nebulae==
{{main|Astronomy:Wolf–Rayet nebula}}
Some [[Astronomy:Wolf–Rayet star|Wolf–Rayet star]]s are surrounded by pinwheel nebulae. These nebulae are formed from the dust that is spewed out of a [[Astronomy:Binary star|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. An example of this is [[Astronomy:WR 104|WR 104]].

==External links==
*[http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gekko/wr104.html "The Twisted Tale of Wolf-Rayet 104, First of the Pinwheel Nebulae"] Some Wolf–Rayet stars in binaries are close enough that we can image a rotating "pinwheel nebula" showing the dust generated by colliding winds in the binary system, from [[Physics:Aperture masking interferometry|aperture masking interferometry]] observations.
*[http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0602.html Pinwheel Galaxy from ESA/Hubble]

{{Nebula}}

[[Category:Spiral galaxies|*]]



{{Sourceattribution|Pinwheel nebula}}