Crescent Nebula
by Robert Gendler/science Photo Library
Title
Crescent Nebula
Artist
Robert Gendler/science Photo Library
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Crescent nebula, optical image. This is a glowing shell of gas cast off by the central star WR 136 (just above and right of centre). WR 136 is a Wolf-Rayet star, a rare type of hot, massive star that loses mass rapidly through a strong and dusty stellar wind. The glowing shell is thought to be ejected material that is ionised by shock heating as it collides either with the interstellar medium, or with material previously ejected by the star. Also, the hydrogen in the shell is ionised by radiation from WR 136. This nebula lies around 4700 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.
Uploaded
February 23rd, 2021
Embed
Share
Comments
There are no comments for Crescent Nebula. Click here to post the first comment.