Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Canis Major (CMa)  ·  Contains:  16 CMa)  ·  The star Udra (ο1 CMa
Sh2-308 : Dolphin Head Nebula, Prabhakaran
Sh2-308 : Dolphin Head Nebula
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Sh2-308 : Dolphin Head Nebula

Sh2-308 : Dolphin Head Nebula, Prabhakaran
Sh2-308 : Dolphin Head Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

Sh2-308 : Dolphin Head Nebula

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Update: This image was featured as Astronomy Picture of the Day on June 7th 2024 https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240607.html

The Dolphin Head Nebula is a cosmic bubble blown out by fast winds from a hot, massive star(EZ Canis Majoris). Cataloged as Sharpless 2-308 it lies some 4500 light-years away toward the constellation of the Canis Major and covers slightly more of the sky than a Full Moon. That corresponds to a diameter of 60 light-years at its estimated distance. The massive star that created the bubble, a Wolf-Rayet star, is the bright 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 a 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 featured expansive image dominated by the glow of ionized oxygen atoms mapped to a blue hue. This stunning combination of colors creates a visually arresting image, highlighting the intricate structures and delicate wisps of gas that compose the nebula

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Sh2-308 : Dolphin Head Nebula, Prabhakaran

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Narrowband imaging
Very Wide Field