Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Canis Major (CMa)  ·  Contains:  The star ο1CMa
Sh2-308 - Deep Sky West Remote Observatory, Deep Sky West (Lloyd)
Sh2-308 - Deep Sky West Remote Observatory
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Sh2-308 - Deep Sky West Remote Observatory

Link to TIFF/FITS: http://www.deepskywest.com
Sh2-308 - Deep Sky West Remote Observatory, Deep Sky West (Lloyd)
Sh2-308 - Deep Sky West Remote Observatory
Powered byPixInsight

Sh2-308 - Deep Sky West Remote Observatory

Link to TIFF/FITS: http://www.deepskywest.com

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Description

Sh2-308 @DeepSkyWest on AG Optical iDK 12.5" (personal system). From APOD....

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.

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)

Comments

Revisions

    Sh2-308 - Deep Sky West Remote Observatory, Deep Sky West (Lloyd)
    Original
    Sh2-308 - Deep Sky West Remote Observatory, Deep Sky West (Lloyd)
    B
  • Final
    Sh2-308 - Deep Sky West Remote Observatory, Deep Sky West (Lloyd)
    C

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Sh2-308 - Deep Sky West Remote Observatory, Deep Sky West (Lloyd)