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Credit & Copyright: Helge Buesing
Explanation:
This supernova shock wave plows through interstellar space
at over 500,000 kilometers per hour.
Centered and moving upward in the
sharply detailed color composite
its thin, bright, braided filaments are actually long ripples
in a cosmic sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge-on.
Discovered in the 1840s by
Sir
John Herschel,
the narrow-looking nebula
is sometimes known as Herschel's Ray.
Cataloged
as NGC 2736,
its pointed appearance suggests its modern popular name, the Pencil Nebula.
The Pencil Nebula
is about 800 light-years away.
Nearly 5 light-years long it represents only a small part of the
Vela supernova remnant though.
The enormous Vela remnant itself
is around 100 light-years in diameter, the expanding
debris cloud of
a star
that was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago.
Initially, the section of the
shock wave seen as the Pencil nebula was moving
at millions of kilometers
per hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping up
surrounding interstellar material.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: supernova remnant
Publications with words: supernova remnant
See also:
- APOD: 2025 October 1 Á NGC 6960: The Witchs Broom Nebula
- APOD: 2025 June 9 Á Between Scylla and Charybdis: A Double Cosmic Discovery
- Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
- APOD: 2025 January 8 Á Supernova Remnants Big and Small
- APOD: 2024 September 18 Á The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant
- APOD: 2024 April 16 Á Filaments of the Vela Supernova Remnant
- APOD: 2024 April 3 Á Unusual Nebula Pa 30