Starship Asterisk*

NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula

Explanation: NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a about 25 light-years across blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. A triumvirate of astroimagers ( Joe, Glenn, Russell) created this sharp portrait of the cosmic bubble. Their telescopic collaboration collected over 30 hours of narrow band image data isolating light from hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The oxygen atoms produce the blue-green hue that seems to enshroud the detailed folds and filaments. Visible within the nebula, NGC 6888's central star is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). The star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the Sun's mass every 10,000 years. The nebula's complex structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with material ejected in an earlier phase. 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. Found in the nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years away.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

Being only 5000 LY away; it should spectacular when it goes nova!

Where's the crescent? In this APOD it looks more like an oblong meatball. This is one of the few crescent-like images I've found:


http://www.raysuniverse.com/Cam-SAC10/N ... 1200.jpg

And from other sources, I gather that the bright star midway between the horns of the crescent is WR 136.

Is that a tiny black dust cloud at the center of the nebula, to the side of the WR star?

Perhaps the star burped up a bit of soot?

-

johnnydeep wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 7:31 pm Where's the crescent? In this APOD it looks more like an oblong meatball. This is one of the few crescent-like images I've found:


http://www.raysuniverse.com/Cam-SAC10/N ... 1200.jpg

And from other sources, I gather that the bright star midway between the horns of the crescent is WR 136.

You know “oblong meatball” would be a great name for a nebula!

Eric

where is the star?
Not in the center your eyes jump to.
Here it is shown: And what is that black pentagon nearby? Is it a foreground ink-black Bok globule?

RE: Discussion of the image. It would be of great value to amateurs such as myself of you would simply place an arrow pointing out the star under discussion. Otherwise, as in this case, it is impossible to discern which is responsible for the nebula.