APOD: NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula (2012 Aug 16)

[APOD Robot]

NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula

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.

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[J-P Metsavainio]

Hi,

I'm photographer of today's APOD and I'm willing to answer, if there is anything to ask about image.

I have made a "scale study" about NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula, to show the apparent scale in the sky, please have a look here:
http://www.astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/201 ... ebula.html

To add some new dimensions to my "hobby" as an astronomical photographer (pun intended), I have made some 3D-studies out of my images, including NGC 6888. 3D-studies can be found in my portfolio, in different formats, please have a look here: http://astroanarchy.zenfolio.com/f359296072

My 3D experiments are based on some scientific information and an artistic
impression. More info about technique used at end of this blogpost:
http://www.astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/201 ... ir-3d.html

Best regards,
J-P Metsavainio, Finland

[saturno2]

This Nebula is very compact.

[rghoeing@buffalo.edu]

Magnificent! Thanks for the image, J-P!

[emc]

Beautiful image from the “dark side”… I love night sky compositions that empower imagination!

[starsurfer]

Incredible image of one of my favourite Wolf Rayet nebulae! Quite possibly the greatest false colour image of this nebula! I still find true colour images of the Crescent Nebula to be more colourful and magical!

[Boomer12k]

J-P....You have my DEEP AND PROFOUND RESPECTS, SIR...

:---[===] *

[Boomer12k]

I would have called it..."the flaming wheel nebula"....

:---[===] *

[Sparky56]

Looks Like a jellyfish. Does anyone else agree?

[Catlin0]

Thank you for your beautiful picture. One question for you or the scientists behind the education:

What are inhabitants of this planet likely to experience when the nebula wind reaches our solar system in 5,000 years? Is there any way to computer animate the most likely scenario? If so, will someone please let the rest of us know (in color and on the APOD site if possible). It should be beautiful if it can still be seen approaching the solar system or hitting our magnetic field.

Thanks,
Cat

[Catlin0]

PS: Anyone skilled enough to answer this question and or do the computer simulation/animation would be welcome to address the questions.
Thanks loads!

[Anthony Barreiro]

Thank you for your beautiful picture. One question for you or the scientists behind the education:

What are inhabitants of this planet likely to experience when the nebula wind reaches our solar system in 5,000 years? Is there any way to computer animate the most likely scenario? If so, will someone please let the rest of us know (in color and on the APOD site if possible). It should be beautiful if it can still be seen approaching the solar system or hitting our magnetic field.

(I'm not a scientist, just a stargazer.) Your question seems to be based on an incorrect assumption. This nebula is 5000 light years away. That's the distance light travels through a vaccuum in 5000 years. So Mr. Metsävainio's picture already shows us what the light from this nebula looks like, 5000 years after it was emitted by sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms excited by the radiation from the central star. This cloud of stuff is going to continue to expand due to the outward pressure of radiation from the star, but it is not expanding at anywhere near the speed of light, and it is going to dissipate into the surrounding space long before it gets to our neighborhood. 5000 years after the star explodes in a supernova, folks on Earth will see a bright new star in the constellation Cygnus.

So, here's a couple of questions for Ann and the other scientists: How fast is this nebula expanding? And do we have any idea when the central star will go supernova?

And J-P, thank you for the link to the zoom images of this nebula. They are very helpful in understanding where and how big it is in the sky.

[ta152h0]

The grat Poobah in the Sky built himself a radio telescope to torture ther great minds with.. Ice cold one please...colorado water

[ta152h0]

and i have a question for the owner of this site. Can I use pictures from this site on a paper a little girl is writing on Uranus and Neptune to jazz up her report ?

[bystander]

and i have a question for the owner of this site. Can I use pictures from this site on a paper a little girl is writing on Uranus and Neptune to jazz up her report ?

What site? Asterisk, APOD, or Astro Anarchy? APOD and Asterisk don't own the rights to any of the images, however, I'm sure that any public sector images can be used as long as proper credit is given. As for copyrighted images, you would need to contact the holder of the copyright. I can't answer for Astro Anarchy, but if you visit the site, contact information is provided.

I suggest you visit http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/pro ... ect=Uranus and http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/pro ... ct=Neptune.

[ta152h0]

Thank you. The images were taken by the hubble Space Telescope and i want to be on the straight and narrow
W

[Catlin0]

Aha!
I should have thought of that. Thank you, Officer Barreiro, for answering my questions. I'm very new at this, so I will undoubtedly make more mistakes.
Cat

[J-P Metsavainio]

Hi and many thanks for the most positive feedback!

It's OK to use my images in personal usage. If you'll going to publish my material, it's polite to ask permission and use a link to an original source. If the usage is non profit and/or educational, it'll be free. There is always a fee for commercial usage.

Quick answer for some questions here... This object is too far away to course any other phenomena in Earth, than a brighter dot in a sky, when ever supernova explosion happens. It'll goes to a supernova in a one second , or in a 100.000 years...

This shell of gas is expanding about 3.8 million miles/hour (6,1 million km/h), due the distance an a size (estimated diameter is about 25 light years and distance 5000 light years.) we can't detect hardly any movement in our lifetime.

J-P, http://astroanarchy.zenfolio.com/

[Anthony Barreiro]

Aha!
I should have thought of that. Thank you, Officer Barreiro, for answering my questions. I'm very new at this, so I will undoubtedly make more mistakes.
Cat

No worries. Making educated guesses and asking questions is how we learn. Some of our guesses are bound to be wrong. As our knowledge and understanding grow, our assumptions and questions get more sophisticated and our mistakes even grander! Pretty soon you'll be talking about string theory and multiverses as if they make sense.

Thanks J-P for the further info about this interesting nebula.

[Moonlady]

Aha!
I should have thought of that. Thank you, Officer Barreiro, for answering my questions. I'm very new at this, so I will undoubtedly make more mistakes.
Cat

No worries. Making educated guesses and asking questions is how we learn. Some of our guesses are bound to be wrong. As our knowledge and understanding grow, our assumptions and questions get more sophisticated and our mistakes even grander! Pretty soon you'll be talking about string theory and multiverses as if they make sense.

Thanks J-P for the further info about this interesting nebula.

Haha I can't even make educated guesses...all I do is adore the pictures and make a loud: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh beautifuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul!

Great homepage Astroanarchy, JP! I am totally impressed with the very detailed 3D pics and animated ones, and all the beautiful nebulae! I thought, I could just grab the moon out of my screen

[squiz]

Great picture

[saturno2]

J. P. Congratulations.
Your images in 3D are very beautiful.Indeed.
It is interesting the quality of the images.

[galaxyshots]

J-P -
That's the kind of imagery that keeps me up at night - a real beauty. Thanks for all the patient processing

[Guest]

Hi and many thanks for the nicest comments!

Th

J-P -
That's the kind of imagery that keeps me up at night - a real beauty. Thanks for all the patient processing

Yup, this hobby (read addiction) keeps me up at nights, as you might quest...

J-P, http://astroanarchy.zenfolio.com/

[neptunium]

Looks Like a jellyfish. Does anyone else agree?

I see a brain, but I can also see a jellyfish.