by APOD Robot » Fri Jul 15, 2016 4:08 am
NGC 2736: The Pencil Nebula
Explanation: Moving from top to bottom in the frame near the center of this
sharply detailed color composite, thin, bright, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a cosmic sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge-on. The shock wave plows through interstellar space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour.
Cataloged as NGC 2736, its elongated appearance suggests its popular name,
the Pencil Nebula. The Pencil Nebula is about 5 light-years long and 800 light-years away, but represents only a small part of the
Vela supernova remnant. The
Vela remnant itself is around 100 light-years in diameter, the expanding
debris cloud of a star that was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago. Initially, the shock wave was moving at millions of kilometers per hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping up surrounding interstellar material. In the narrowband, wide field image, red and blue-green colors track the characteristic glow of
ionized hydrogen and
oxygen atoms.
[/b]
[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160715.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_160715.jpg[/img] [size=150]NGC 2736: The Pencil Nebula[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Moving from top to bottom in the frame near the center of this [url=http://starimager.com/Image%20Gallery%20Pages/%20Hydrogen%20Alpha%20Images/ngc%202736%20NB%20bi%20color_LCO%20AP12MC_1250.html]sharply detailed color composite[/url], thin, bright, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a cosmic sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge-on. The shock wave plows through interstellar space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour. [url=http://heritage.stsci.edu/2003/16/supplemental.html]Cataloged as NGC 2736[/url], its elongated appearance suggests its popular name, [url=http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/pencil_nebula.html]the Pencil Nebula[/url]. The Pencil Nebula is about 5 light-years long and 800 light-years away, but represents only a small part of the [url=http://violet.pha.jhu.edu/~wpb/hstvela/hstvela.html]Vela supernova remnant[/url]. The [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080306.html]Vela remnant itself[/url] is around 100 light-years in diameter, the expanding [url=http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/supernovas.html]debris cloud of a star[/url] that was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago. Initially, the shock wave was moving at millions of kilometers per hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping up surrounding interstellar material. In the narrowband, wide field image, red and blue-green colors track the characteristic glow of [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap051223.html]ionized hydrogen[/url] and [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130307.html]oxygen atoms[/url].
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