Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  Crescent nebula  ·  NGC 6888
NGC 6888 - A Crescent in Cygnus, Callum Hayton
NGC 6888 - A Crescent in Cygnus
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NGC 6888 - A Crescent in Cygnus

NGC 6888 - A Crescent in Cygnus, Callum Hayton
NGC 6888 - A Crescent in Cygnus
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 6888 - A Crescent in Cygnus

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Description

The Crescent nebula, also cataloged as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27 and Sharpless 105 is an emission nebula found in the summer constellation of Cygnus the swan. The bubble like object is located about 5000 light years away and is 25 light years across, or 150 trillion miles. It was formed by stellar wind blown from a massive Wolf-Rayet type star at its centre when it became a red giant 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. It is thought that the star is now nearing the end of its life and will probably die with a bright supernova explosion.

This nebula actually resembles a brain in deeper images, which this is not. I have only picked up the brighter shell. There is also a massive hydrogen cloud to the right of the nebula and faintly around the crescent itself which is only a small part of the massive nebulous clouds that cover this area of sky. Just like with all emission nebula, a CCD camera and hydrogen filter would allow much more structure and colour to be shown here.

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NGC 6888 - A Crescent in Cygnus, Callum Hayton