Good morning. Today's image, February 2, is of an emission nebula located about 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.
Discovered by William Herschel more than 230 years ago, astronomers believe the Crescent Nebula was formed when energetic stellar winds from the core of a Wolf-Rayet star collided with slow-moving material ejected early in the star's life. I believe it has been done. Ultimately, this will all turn into a supernova, which will be quite spectacular.
Will you or I live to see it? Probably not.
But in the meantime, we can enjoy the nebula for what it is. This image was taken with Ars reader 1Zach1 using the Astro-Tech AT80ED refractor telescope. This was the product of 11 hours of integration, or 228 exposures lasting 3 minutes each. This photo was taken in rural southwest Washington.
Have a nice weekend everyone.
Source: 1Zach1
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