Jump to content
Login new information ×
Login new information
  • General News

    Daily Telescope: A Wolf-Rayet star puts on a howling light show

    Karlston

    By Karlston,
    Published Date:

    • 291 views
    • 2 minutes
     Share
    • 291 views
    • 2 minutes

    I'd like to see it go boom.

    small-NGC6888Final-800x800.jpg

    The Crescent Nebula.
    1Zach1

     

    Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light, a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We'll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we're going to take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is filled with stars and wonder.

     

    Good morning. It's February 2, and today's image concerns an emission nebula about 5,000 light-years away in the Cygnus constellation.

     

    Discovered more than 230 years ago by William Herschel, astronomers believe the Crescent Nebula is formed by the combination of an energetic stellar wind from a Wolf-Rayet star at its core, colliding with slower-moving material ejected earlier in the star's lifetime. Ultimately, this should all go supernova, which will be quite spectacular.

     

    Will you or I be alive to see it? Probably not.

     

    But in the meantime, we can enjoy the nebula for what it is. This photo was captured by Ars reader 1Zach1 with an Astro-Tech AT80ED Refractor telescope. It was the product of 11 hours of integration, or 228 exposures each lasting three minutes. It was taken in rural southwestern Washington.

     

    Have a great weekend, everyone.

     

    Source: 1Zach1

     

    Source

     Share
    Go to news

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    There are no comments to display.



    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
    Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

    ×

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...