Hubble Telescope Captures Sharpest Image Yet of Mysterious Red Rectangle

[Dryson]

A striking new image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope delivers a deep look into a mysterious cosmic object called the Red Rectangle Nebula.

Its obvious to me that Space-Time does not always function as curves but something within Space-Time creates sharp corners and angles that create the rectangle.

See more at: http://www.space.com/32655-mysterio...cope-sharpest-image.html#sthash.gEEpQM6U.dpuf

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I am a bit sceptical about this one and think it's most likely an optical artifact. I recon some object is between the nebula and the lense which makes the nebula appear angular. Perhaps a binary star or a binary black hole. A string of dark matter might also cause such an effect on light waves.
In my experience, at least on our planet nothing exists that causes things to physically bend at such sharp angles. Nature has a tendency to use smooth curves as they are more efficient, energetically. It's logical to assume that our planet is no exception to the rules of fluid mechanics (the name is a bit confusing - fluid mechanics also covers the movements of gases and solids, not just liquids).
I think we can safely exclude cristallisation, the only natural phenomenon where sharp angles are involved. A cristal this size would break under the gravitational strain or be visible in the photo (or both).
There's a vague - and purely hypothetical - chance that the effect would be caused by a crossing point of cosmic strings. If that were the case, similar optical effects would occur along the strings and we'd detect them. As this hasn't be the case yet, this hypothesis seems impropable.

At any rate it's a fascinating object with its own very special beauty. Thanks for pointing it out to us, Dyson =)

 

[Doom Shepherd]

Not really mysterious anymore. It's long been known that a spherical gas ejection from a star hitting a dust torus can produce a shape like this.

Those lines aren't actually "sharp" and "straight."

 

[Metryq]

Only if it's dark on Tuesday.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

The unusual shape of the Red Rectangle is likely due to a thick dust torus which pinches the otherwise spherical outflow into tip-touching cone shapes. Because we view the torus edge-on, the boundary edges of the cone shapes seem to form an X. The distinct rungs suggest the outflow occurs in fits and starts.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130521.html