Friday, November 01, 2024

Return of The Bubble Nebula: NGC 7635 in Cassiopeia | NOIRLab

Return of The Bubble Nebula: NGC 7635 in Cassiopeia | NOIRLab


The Bubble Nebula lies a mere 11,000 light-years away toward the constellation Cassiopeia. This mysterious ball of gas is about half a degree from Messier 52, an open star cluster.

This image was taken as part of Advanced Observing Program (AOP) program at Kitt Peak Visitor Center during 2014.

What created this huge space bubble? Blown by the wind from a star, this tantalizing, head-like apparition is cataloged as NGC 7635, but known simply as the Bubble Nebula. The featured striking view utilizes a long exposure to reveal the intricate details of this cosmic bubble and its environment. Although it looks delicate, the 10 light-year diameter bubble offers evidence of violent processes at work. Seen here above and right of the Bubble's center, a bright hot star is embedded in the nebula's reflecting dust. A fierce stellar wind and intense radiation from the star (that likely has a mass 10 to 20 times that of the Sun) has blasted out the structure of glowing gas against denser material in a surrounding molecular cloud. 

Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Brad Ehrhorn/Adam Block

Release Date: June 12, 2014


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #BubbleNebula #NGC7635 #Star #StellarRadiation #Cassiopeia #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #KPNO #NSF #AURA #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

No comments:

Post a Comment