Blown by the wind from a massive star, this interstellar apparition has a
surprisingly familiar
shape. Cataloged as NGC 7635, it is also known simply as The Bubble Nebula.
Although it looks delicate, the 10 light-year diameter bubble offers evidence of
violent processes at work. Above and right of the
Bubble's center is a hot, O star, several hundred
thousand times more luminous and around 45 times more massive than the Sun. A
fierce stellar wind and intense radiation from that star has blasted out the structure
of glowing gas against denser material in a
surrounding molecular cloud.
The intriguing Bubble Nebula lies a mere 11,000 light-years away toward the
boastful constellation Cassiopeia. This natural
looking view of the cosmic bubble is composed from narrowband image data.
December 16, 2013
NGC 7635
Blown by the wind from a massive star, this interstellar apparition has a
surprisingly familiar
shape. Cataloged as NGC 7635, it is also known simply as The Bubble Nebula.
Although it looks delicate, the 10 light-year diameter bubble offers evidence of
violent processes at work. Above and right of the
Bubble's center is a hot, O star, several hundred
thousand times more luminous and around 45 times more massive than the Sun. A
fierce stellar wind and intense radiation from that star has blasted out the structure
of glowing gas against denser material in a
surrounding molecular cloud.
The intriguing Bubble Nebula lies a mere 11,000 light-years away toward the
boastful constellation Cassiopeia. This natural
looking view of the cosmic bubble is composed from narrowband image data.
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