Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Canis Major (CMa)  ·  Contains:  The star ο1CMa

Image of the day 02/18/2016

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    Sh2-308, rflinn68
    Sh2-308
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    Sh2-308

    Image of the day 02/18/2016

    Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
      Sh2-308, rflinn68
      Sh2-308
      Powered byPixInsight

      Sh2-308

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      Description

      Blown by fast winds from a hot, massive star, this cosmic bubble is huge. Cataloged as Sharpless 308 it lies some 5,200 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major and covers over 2/3 degree on the sky (compared with 1/2 degree for the Full Moon). That corresponds to a diameter of 60 light-years at its estimated distance. The massive star itself, a Wolf-Rayet star, is the bright blue one near the center of the nebula. Wolf-Rayet stars have over 20 times the mass of the Sun and are thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova phase of massive star evolution. Fast winds from this Wolf-Rayet star create the bubble-shaped nebula as they sweep up slower moving material from an earlier phase of evolution. The windblown nebula has an age of about 70,000 years. Relatively faint emission captured in the expansive image is dominated by the glow of ionized oxygen atoms mapped to bluish hues.--from NASA APOD 4/23/2009

      Shot over the nights of 2/4, 2/6, 2/9, 2/10, and 2/12. Its low in my southern sky so could only get a few hours each night. I did get five SII subs but there was very little there and it did not add enough to the image, so I abandoned that idea. Binned 2X2 and drizzled in PI.

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        Sh2-308, rflinn68
        Original
      • Final
        Sh2-308, rflinn68
        B

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      Sh2-308, rflinn68