Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Perseus (Per)  ·  Contains:  NGC 1333
NGC1333 Embryo Nebula, PrairieSkiesAstro
NGC1333 Embryo Nebula
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NGC1333 Embryo Nebula

NGC1333 Embryo Nebula, PrairieSkiesAstro
NGC1333 Embryo Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

NGC1333 Embryo Nebula

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No, my wife and I are not having another baby! Two kids is plenty! At least for now anyways... However, the Milky Way is having a baby! At least that's what this "ultrasound" of NGC1333, the Embryo Nebula in Perseus, would suggest

All kidding aside, I read an interesting article from way back in 2006 by NASA stating that on average, 7 new stars are born each year in our galaxy. That's pretty amazing! It also mentions that approximately once every 50 years a massive supernova will occur in our galaxy, and yet the last one observable by naked eye I can think of is the one in 1604, recorded most notably by Johannes Kepler. Even crazier! The majority of the literature I read suggests that, in order to be observable by the naked eye, a supernova in the Milky Way needs to be almost perfectly located (away from light-blocking dust, correctly oriented on the galactic plane for viewing, etc.).

Hopefully we will all get to see a supernova light up the night (and daytime) sky sometime soon! One may already have happened, and we're just waiting for the light to get here! Whenever one does show up though, I'm hoping it's not too close to home haha! No Alpha Centauri supernovas please!

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