Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  M 97  ·  NGC 3587  ·  Owl nebula  ·  PK148+57.1
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Owl Nebula (M97), KuriousGeorge
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Owl Nebula (M97)

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Owl Nebula (M97), KuriousGeorge
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Owl Nebula (M97)

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Description

The Owl Nebula (M97) is perched in the sky about 2,600 light-years away toward the bottom of the Big Dipper's bowl. Its round shape along with the placement of two large, dark "eyes" do suggest the face of a staring owl. One of the fainter objects in Messier's catalog, the Owl Nebula is a planetary nebula, the glowing gaseous envelope shed by a dying sun-like star as it runs out of nuclear fuel. In fact, the Owl Nebula offers an example of the fate of our Sun as it runs out of fuel in another 5 billion years. As we see it, the nebula spans over 2 light-years making it roughly 2,000 times the diameter of Neptune's orbit.

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