I recently photographed the "Bubble Nebula" (aka, NGC 7635).
Despite its peaceful appearance, it contains unfathomable amounts of heat and energy, preventing any life (as we know it) from existing within its sphere.
If you look closely, you will see a bright star toward the top left of the bubble. This star is 400,000 times brighter than the Sun.
It emits "stellar winds" (essentially protons, electrons, and atoms) into the nearby area at a blistering 4 million miles per hour.
As these hot stellar winds collide with the cool gasses of a nearby hydrogen nebula, it creates a visible shock wave. The shock wave is essentially glowing gas (when the stellar wind hits the cooler gas, it glows).
The shock wave is very bright and pronounced because it contains so many particles of the star (which has ejected 25% of its mass so far, and will likely detonate as a supernova in ~10 million years).
While the Bubble is constantly expanding, it is not a perfect circle because the surrounding area is more dense in some areas than others.
The Bubble Nebula is 7 light years wide and 7,100 light years away.
As I take more and more photos, I want to better understand what it actually means to say, "This Nebula is 7 light years wide." I'm definitely not there yet. What I can say--is that this was a very small object in a rather large telescope, and it took several different tries over the past year to get it correct.
Website: https://idahoastro.com/
High-resolution photo: https://astrob.in/full/ct6kil/0/
Despite its peaceful appearance, it contains unfathomable amounts of heat and energy, preventing any life (as we know it) from existing within its sphere.
If you look closely, you will see a bright star toward the top left of the bubble. This star is 400,000 times brighter than the Sun.
It emits "stellar winds" (essentially protons, electrons, and atoms) into the nearby area at a blistering 4 million miles per hour.
As these hot stellar winds collide with the cool gasses of a nearby hydrogen nebula, it creates a visible shock wave. The shock wave is essentially glowing gas (when the stellar wind hits the cooler gas, it glows).
The shock wave is very bright and pronounced because it contains so many particles of the star (which has ejected 25% of its mass so far, and will likely detonate as a supernova in ~10 million years).
While the Bubble is constantly expanding, it is not a perfect circle because the surrounding area is more dense in some areas than others.
The Bubble Nebula is 7 light years wide and 7,100 light years away.
As I take more and more photos, I want to better understand what it actually means to say, "This Nebula is 7 light years wide." I'm definitely not there yet. What I can say--is that this was a very small object in a rather large telescope, and it took several different tries over the past year to get it correct.
Website: https://idahoastro.com/
High-resolution photo: https://astrob.in/full/ct6kil/0/
