New Discovery: The Lightning Bolt NebulaIn the immediate vicinity of the very bright star Alpha Centauri A or Rigel Kentaurus is a VERY large filamentary Oiii/Ha nebula. This is likely to be a very large supernova remnant, but in regards to whether or not it is a novel one is impossible to say. This area of the sky is a literal minefield of radio SNRs that have been known about for some time, so we cannot say which it belongs to for now.
What I can say is that this thing is long, and probably extends further outside my FOV somewhat. I have measured the total angular extent of the nebula to be 2.906 degrees (at least what fits in the photo). This makes it equivalent in angular size to even M31!
My friend Chester and I encountered this nebula while collecting wide-field images of a different discovery. My brain is so used to looking for bubbles that only Chester noticed the giant filament streak in our 135mm image.
Here in the discovery image, you can get some idea of the WTF moment we had:
Anyways I hope you enjoy the photo!
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