Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)
Crescent Nebula or NCG 6888, maragus
Crescent Nebula or NCG 6888
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Crescent Nebula or NCG 6888

Crescent Nebula or NCG 6888, maragus
Crescent Nebula or NCG 6888
Powered byPixInsight

Crescent Nebula or NCG 6888

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Description

The Crescent Nebula also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105 is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 ly away from Earth.

Visible within the nebula the central star classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136).

The star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent os the Sun's mass every 10000 years. This strong fast stellar wind collides with an energising slower moving wind ejected by the star in a earlier phase when it became a red giant around 250000 to 400000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.

Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion.

Apparent magnitude +7.4

Apparent dimensions 18'x12', about 25ly across

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Crescent Nebula or NCG 6888, maragus