Posted on 08/16/2012 3:40:44 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. This colorful portrait of the nebula uses narrow band image data combined in the Hubble palatte. It shows emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in the wind-blown nebula in red, green and blue hues. NGC 6888's central star is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). The star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the Sun's mass every 10,000 years. The nebula's complex structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. Found in the nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years away.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit & Copyright: J-P Metsävainio (Astro Anarchy)]
Wow, nice.
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Looks kinda like a brain.
Very cool, SunkenCiv! Reminds me of those round, little jellyfish that glow at night.
To me, this represents our constant search for meaning in our life.....That, or it’s a blue pig flying through space.
That’s how it looked in the Bronze age, I wonder how it looks now.
Unreal distances.
Thanks S.C.
It’s a sonogram.
Another beauty!
Thanks, Civ!
I guess you answered your own question!
Thank you. That was what I saw too.
Thank you for the ping, Mr. Civilizations!
Wonder where the pinky is?
Jelly Jelly!
Yeah, ever since that ST episode where that ship of Vulcans got wiped out...
:’D
My pleasure, and thanks!
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