SNR G304.4-3.1:
What you’re looking at is the first ever high-resolution image showing the complete structure of theta muscae’s supernova remnant. This object has an interesting back story, due to where it is!
The bright blue star cradled by this nebula is theta Muscae, a very bright wolf rayet star. These are stars nearing the end of their life, and they are commonly associated with beautiful nebula, like the crescent nebula or Thors helmet.
In 2009 a group of scientists sought to understand if this nebula was associated with Theta Muscae.
You can read their paper here . They determined that this area was likely an ancient supernova remnant, plus some random Hii regions. They only studied the area in Ha, I'm not sure if they were aware of the Oiii structure present.
It just so happens that the remnant is located in the perfect spot to ‘fake’ itself as a wolf rayet nebula, a curious cosmic alignment.
I first studied the region this April and noted a very bright and interesting Oiii structure in the region. After some digging, I found
@Mathew Ludgate had noted this some years prior
in this image. Both of us used camera lenses with not much resolution. I figured this area would be worth a high res follow-up, and boy was I right! The structure is more insane than I could’ve imagined. Not to mention this thing is HUGE.
This high res image definitely points towards this nebula being a supernova remnant.
BTW I am running a remote southern hemisphere workshop from this scope in September if you're interested in signing up
check here, there are only 3 spots left.
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