Very pretty picture!

Very pretty picture!

Originally shared by Pierre Markuse

NGC 7635 – Hubble Sees a Star ‘Inflating’ a Giant Bubble

In this image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope you can see the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635, Caldwell 11). It is an emission nebula located in the constellation of Cassiopeia (https://goo.gl/hSPP6L), about 7,100 light-years away from Earth. The nebula is 7 light-years across.

SAO 20575 (BD+60 2522, https://goo.gl/KVzJx3), the central star of the nebula, is about 45 times more massive than our Sun. Gas on the star gets so hot that it escapes away into space as a “stellar wind” (https://goo.gl/Z9Sotn) moving at over 4 million miles per hour. The star is about 4 million years old, and in 10 million to 20 million years, it will likely detonate as a supernova (https://goo.gl/VhJNhj). In this image you can see the star within the bubble at the 10 o’clock position. 

The Bubble Nebula was discovered in 1787 by the British astronomer William Herschel (https://goo.gl/E9YsKH).

More information here:

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/13/image/a/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_7635

What is an emission nebula?

An emission nebula is a cloud of ionized gas (often by ultraviolet radiation from nearby stars), emitting light of various colors. More information here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emission_nebula

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_II_region

Image credit: NGC 7635 NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

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#science   #astronomy   #ngc7635   #caldwell11   #bubblenebula   #emissionnebula   #hiiregion   #space   #hubble   #hst