Elusive Jellyfish Nebula
Credit & Copyright:
Johannes Schedler
(Panther Observatory)
Normally faint and elusive, the Jellyfish Nebula is caught in
the net of
this spectacular wide-field telescopic view.
Flanked by two yellow-tinted stars at the foot of a
celestial
twin - Mu and
Eta
Geminorum -
the Jellyfish Nebula is the brighter arcing
ridge of emission with dangling tentacles just right of center.
Here, the cosmic jellyfish is seen to be
part of bubble-shaped
supernova remnant
IC 443, the expanding
debris cloud from an exploded star some 5,000 light-years away.
Also in view, emission nebula IC 444 nearly fills the field to
the upper left, dotted with small blue reflection nebulae.
Like its cousin in astrophysical waters, the
Crab Nebula,
IC 443 is known to harbor
a neutron star, the collapsed core of the massive star that
exploded over 30,000 years ago.