Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  Crescent nebula  ·  M 33  ·  NGC 598  ·  NGC 6888  ·  Triangulum galaxy
NGC 6888 The Crescent Nebula, Geoff Graham
NGC 6888 The Crescent Nebula
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NGC 6888 The Crescent Nebula

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Description

The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth.

It was discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing

the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250.000 to 400.000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves,

one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray - ermitting temperatures. WR 136 is a Wolf-Rayet star

Located in the constellation Cygnus. It is in the center of the Crescent Nebula . Its age is estimated to be around 4.7 million years and it is nearing the end of its life.

Within a few hundred thousand years, it is exspected to explode as a Supernova. And bear in mind that one light-year is 6,000,000,000,000 miles.

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NGC 6888 The Crescent Nebula, Geoff Graham