M16 The Eagle Nebula
The Eagle Nebula is a cloud of gas and dust in the constellation Serpens, mainly molecular hydrogen, some 7,000 light years away from us and 50 to 70 light years wide. It contains several stellar nurseries and is about 5.5
Category: Nebulae
Nebulae are gigantic volumes of cosmic dust and/or gas, such as, and most of all, hydrogen and helium (the two most abundant atoms in the Universe). A cloud of this material can, when the conditions are ripe, collapse under its own gravity to create a new star or stars. Therefore, nebulae (or nebulas) are often stellar nurseries. In contrast, nebulae can also be created by an explosion of a dying star at the end of its main sequence.
Historically, all observed fuzzy objects (as opposed to pinpoint stars) were marked as nebulae, including galaxies – before they were understood to be galaxies in the early 20th century, and other deep space objects, such as globular clusters.
Nebulae are classified into: emission (such as M42), reflection (such as NGC 7023), dark (such as Barnard 33) or planetary nebulae (such as M57), or supernova remnants (such as M1).
Helix Nebula (NGC 7293)
Helix nebula is a planetary nebula (PN) some 650 light-years from us, in the constellation of Aquarius. The nebula carries this name as it resembles a spring when viewed orthogonally from above, and it is the most detailed and brightest
Iris Nebula (NGC 7023)
The Iris Nebula (NGC 7023, Caldwell 4) is a bright reflection nebula in the constellation of Cepheus, some 1,300 light years away from us. The central (blue) part, which is 6 light years wide, is dust illuminated by a very
Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146)
Nearly 15 light-years in size and located in Cygnus, some 4,000 ly away from us, this beautiful object is another stellar nursery, IC 5146 or Sh 2-125, the Cocoon Nebula. The ‘cocoon’ we see is an open cluster embedded within
Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (IC 1396)
IC 1396 is one of the largest ionized gas nebula in the night sky (occupies full 3 degrees in the sky — which is six diameters of the Moon when seen from Earth). It is located in the constellation of
Heart and Soul Nebulae (IC1805 and IC1848)
The Heart Nebula (IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, aka Running Dog Nebula), shown on the photograph in the lower right, and the Soul Nebula (Westerhout 5, IC 1848, Sharpless 2-199, aka Embryo Nebula) are located in the Perseus Arm of the
Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635)
The Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11) is a bubble of interstellar atomic hydrogen (HII region) ionized by the strong ultraviolet radiation on the O-type hot star (BD+60°2522) that is within the nebula, but not in the
Pelican Nebula (IC 5070)
The Pelican Nebula (IC 5070), is another one of Milky Way’s stellar nurseries. It earned the name due to its shape when viewed in the visible spectrum, such as on this photo: the shape is defined by border of cold,
Giant Squid Nebula (Outters 4)
Outters 4 (Ou4) is a very mysterious object, not only because it does not have its own wikipedia page in English. Colloquially called a Squid (or a Giant Squid) Nebula it was discovered only in 2011 by a French amateur
Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237)
The Rosette Nebula is a symmetrically-shaped region of ionized hydrogen (HII region) located at an edge of a huge molecular cloud in the constellation of Monoceros. More formally it is denoted as Caldwell 49, and also NGC 2237 (which also