Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Canis Major (CMa)  ·  Contains:  16 omi01 CMa  ·  Sh2-308  ·  The star ο1CMa
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Sh2-308 - 2018, Gary Imm
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Sh2-308 - 2018

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Sh2-308 - 2018, Gary Imm
Powered byPixInsight

Sh2-308 - 2018

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Description

This object is an emission nebula located 4500 light years away in the constellation of Canis Major. The nebula is being blown out by fast winds from a hot huge Wolf-Rayet star, the bright blue one near the center of the nebula. Wolf-Rayet stars have over 20 times the mass of our Sun and are thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova phase. The gas in this nebula is primarily oxygen gas, which not only forms the object but permeates the background sky of the image.

Although the nebula is roughly spherical, it is elongated along an axis that runs from the top left to the bottom right of the image. I am not sure of the reason for this phenomenon, but it could be due to a higher gas expulsion velocity at the opposite stellar poles.

The strong whitish nebula color at the bottom of the nebula is due to the presence of significant hydrogen gas in the bottom half of our view of the sphere.

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