Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  NGC 7380
NGC 7380   The Wizard Nebula, billetman1
NGC 7380   The Wizard Nebula
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NGC 7380 The Wizard Nebula

NGC 7380   The Wizard Nebula, billetman1
NGC 7380   The Wizard Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 7380 The Wizard Nebula

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Taken over three weeks 14.5 hours total The Wizard Nebula, which surrounds an open star cluster 8,000 light-years from Earth called NGC 7380.

The Wizard Nebula is a diffuse nebula surrounding the developing open star cluster. It spans about 140 × 75 light-years and lies within our Milky Way Galaxy, in the constellation of Cepheus. It is moving toward us at 34.13 kilometers per second.

This kind of nebulae are the birthplace of stars. They are formed when very diffuse molecular clouds begin to collapse under their own gravity, often due to the influence of a nearby supernova explosion. The cloud collapses and fragments, sometimes forming hundreds of new stars. The newly-formed stars ionize the surrounding gas to produce an emission nebula. In this case, the stars of NGC 7380 have emerged from its natal cloud some 5 million years or so ago, making it a relatively young cluster. And, although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.

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NGC 7380   The Wizard Nebula, billetman1