Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  Crescent Nebula  ·  NGC 6888
NGC 6888, C27, Crescent Nebula, GeOK
NGC 6888, C27, Crescent Nebula
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NGC 6888, C27, Crescent Nebula

NGC 6888, C27, Crescent Nebula, GeOK
NGC 6888, C27, Crescent Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 6888, C27, Crescent Nebula

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Description

The Crescent Nebula (aka NGC 6888, C27) is about 6,700 ly away and the result of the  evolution of the bright Wolf-Rayet star, WR 136 (aka HD 192163), seen near it's center.  

WR 136 is nearing the end of its life and may explode as a supernova in several hundred thousand years.  It is 600,000 times brighter than the Sun, especially in UV light, 21 times more massive, 5 times larger, and 12 times hotter at its surface.  About 120,000-240,000 years ago WR 136 ejected five times the mass of the sun from its surface when it became a red supergiant star.  This expanding ejected material is interacting with the faster stellar wind from WR 136 to form a shell around the star.  

This OSC + Ha picture highlights the red Ha light emitted from hydrogen gas in the shell being excited by the intense UV light from WR 136.  

-Wikipedia

The stars in this picture have been processed separately and diminished from the nebula to better show details in the nebula.

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NGC 6888, C27, Crescent Nebula, GeOK