What seemed like an ordinary night on Wednesday turned out to be extra special for UAE astronomers. While watching the sky, observers in Abu Dhabi spotted a familiar shape: A hamburger.
Dr Anas Sawalha of the International Astronomy Centre (IAC) on Thursday shared a photo of a starry sky featuring two glowing discs that seemingly form a ‘sandwich’ — look closer and you’ll see the hamburger shape.
This, Dr Sawalha said, is called ‘Gomez’s Hamburger’ — named after its discoverer Artura Gomez. And this object actually surrounds a newborn star.
“It is believed that from this disc an entire star system will be formed with its planets, asteroids, and comets,” the expert said.
“It was previously believed that this object was a planetary nebula, but after recent studies it turned out otherwise.”
From its perspective at the Seal Astronomical Observatory in Abu Dhabi, the experts spotted the “cloud of dust and gas surrounding this star, which appears in the form of a straight void between the two bright parts”.
“As for the bright areas on both ends of the straight void, they are gases ionised by the great radiation that usually accompanies newborn stars, and together these phenomena lead to the shape that we see as a ‘hamburger’,” Dr Sawalha explained.
This unique ‘hamburger’ appeared very small in size because it was 900 light years away — and it was spotted in the Sagittarius constellation, the expert added.