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.
2015 January 13
The Soap Bubble Nebula
Credit & Copyright: T. Rector (U. Alaska Anchorage), H. Schweiker (WIYN), NOAO, AURA, NSF
Explanation: Adrift in the
rich star fields of the constellation Cygnus, this lovely, symmetric nebula was only recognized a few years ago and does not yet appear in some astronomical catalogs. In fact, amateur astronomer
Dave Jurasevich identified it as a nebula on 2008 July 6 in
his images of the complex Cygnus region that included the
Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888). He subsequently notified the
International Astronomical Union. Only eleven days later the same object was independently identified by Mel Helm at
Sierra Remote Observatories,
imaged by Keith Quattrocchi and Helm, and also submitted to the IAU as a potentially
unknown nebula. The nebula, appearing on the left of the
featured image, is now known as the
Soap Bubble Nebula. What is the
newly recognized nebula? Most probably it is a
planetary nebula, a final phase in the
life of a sun-like star.
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
