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1
Chandra X-ray Image
of the Crescent Nebula
This broadband Chandra X-ray image reveals dramatic details of a portion of the Crescent Nebula. Powerful winds blowing from the massive star, HD 192163, created this nebula. About 400,000 years ago, HD 192163 expanded enormously to become a red giant and ejected its outer layers at about 20,000 miles per hour. Two hundred thousand years later, the intense radiation from the exposed hot, inner layer of the star began pushing gas away at speeds in excess of 3 million miles per hour.
Scale: Image is 8.2 arcmin per side
(Credit: NASA/UIUC/Y. Chu & R. Gruendl et al.)
This broadband Chandra X-ray image reveals dramatic details of a portion of the Crescent Nebula. Powerful winds blowing from the massive star, HD 192163, created this nebula. About 400,000 years ago, HD 192163 expanded enormously to become a red giant and ejected its outer layers at about 20,000 miles per hour. Two hundred thousand years later, the intense radiation from the exposed hot, inner layer of the star began pushing gas away at speeds in excess of 3 million miles per hour.
Scale: Image is 8.2 arcmin per side
(Credit: NASA/UIUC/Y. Chu & R. Gruendl et al.)
2
Full Field Composite X-ray/Optical Image of the Crescent Nebula
This composite X-ray/optical image (left) shows the portion of the Crescent Nebula covered by the Chandra observation. The image of the entire nebula is an optical image taken with a 1-m telescope at Mount Laguna. On the right is the individual optical image. The massive star HD 192183 that has produced the nebula appears as the bright dot at the center of the image.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/UIUC/Y. Chu & R. Gruendl et al. Optical: SDSU/MLO/Y. Chu et al.)
This composite X-ray/optical image (left) shows the portion of the Crescent Nebula covered by the Chandra observation. The image of the entire nebula is an optical image taken with a 1-m telescope at Mount Laguna. On the right is the individual optical image. The massive star HD 192183 that has produced the nebula appears as the bright dot at the center of the image.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/UIUC/Y. Chu & R. Gruendl et al. Optical: SDSU/MLO/Y. Chu et al.)
3
Hubble Optical Image
of the Crescent Nebula
The Hubble Space Telescope's image of the Crescent Nebula revealed that the shell of matter surrounding the aging star HD 192163 (a.k.a. WR 136), is a network of filaments and dense knots, all enshrouded in a thin "skin" of gas [seen here in blue]. The skin is glowing because it is being blasted by ultraviolet light from HD 192163. Hubble's view covers a small region at the northeast tip of the structure, which is roughly three light-years across. A picture taken by a ground-based telescope [lower right] shows almost the entire nebula. The whole structure is about 16 light-years wide and 25 light-years long. The bright dot near the center of NGC 6888 is HD 192163. The white outline in the upper left-hand corner represents Hubble's view.
(Credit: HST: NASA/STScI/Arizona State Univ./B. D. Moore & J. Hester; Ground-based: Arizona State Univ./P. Scowen )
More information at Hubble
The Hubble Space Telescope's image of the Crescent Nebula revealed that the shell of matter surrounding the aging star HD 192163 (a.k.a. WR 136), is a network of filaments and dense knots, all enshrouded in a thin "skin" of gas [seen here in blue]. The skin is glowing because it is being blasted by ultraviolet light from HD 192163. Hubble's view covers a small region at the northeast tip of the structure, which is roughly three light-years across. A picture taken by a ground-based telescope [lower right] shows almost the entire nebula. The whole structure is about 16 light-years wide and 25 light-years long. The bright dot near the center of NGC 6888 is HD 192163. The white outline in the upper left-hand corner represents Hubble's view.
(Credit: HST: NASA/STScI/Arizona State Univ./B. D. Moore & J. Hester; Ground-based: Arizona State Univ./P. Scowen )
More information at Hubble
4
Chandra X-ray/Optical Image with Scale Bar
Scale bar = 1.5 arcmin
Credit: X-ray: NASA/UIUC/Y. Chu & R. Gruendl et al. Optical: SDSU/MLO/Y. Chu et al.
Scale bar = 1.5 arcmin
Credit: X-ray: NASA/UIUC/Y. Chu & R. Gruendl et al. Optical: SDSU/MLO/Y. Chu et al.
Return to NGC 6888 (14 Oct 03)
Revised: May 17, 2022