Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  Crescent Nebula  ·  NGC 6888
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NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula in HOO, David Wood (SDAA TARO)
NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula in HOO
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NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula in HOO

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula in HOO, David Wood (SDAA TARO)
NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula in HOO
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula in HOO

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Description

The Crescent Nebula, also known as NGC 6888, is an emission nebula located about 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. It is a roughly 25 light-year-wide bubble of gas and dust shaped by the strong stellar wind from a Wolf-Rayet star called WR 136. The star is a massive, rapidly evolving star that is nearing the end of its life. As it ages, it is shedding its outer layers of material into space at a prodigious rate. This stellar wind is colliding with and energizing the slower-moving wind ejected by the star when it was a red giant, creating the shock waves that have shaped the nebula into its distinctive crescent shape. The nebula's bright blue-green color is due to the emission of light from oxygen atoms that are excited by the high-energy radiation from WR 136.

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NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula in HOO, David Wood (SDAA TARO)

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