Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 October 17

                         Cygnus: Bubble and Crescent
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Wissam Ayoub

   Explanation: These clouds of gas and dust drift through rich star
   fields along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the high flying
   constellation Cygnus. Caught within the telescopic field of view are
   the Soap Bubble (lower left) and the Crescent Nebula (upper right).
   Both were formed at a final phase in the life of a star. Also known as
   NGC 6888, the Crescent was shaped as its bright, central massive
   Wolf-Rayet star, WR 136, shed its outer envelope in a strong stellar
   wind. Burning through fuel at a prodigious rate, WR 136 is near the end
   of a short life that should finish in a spectacular supernova
   explosion. Discovered in 2013, the Soap Bubble Nebula is likely a
   planetary nebula, the final shroud of a lower mass, long-lived,
   sun-like star destined to become a slowly cooling white dwarf. Both
   stellar shrouds are 5,000 light-years or so distant. The larger
   Crescent Nebula is around 25 light-years across.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pretty wild ...
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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