NGC 2736: The Pencil
Nebula
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
This shock wave plows through space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour.
Moving toward to bottom
of this beautifully detailed color composite, the thin, braided
filaments are actually long ripples in a sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge
on.
Cataloged as NGC 2736, its narrow appearance suggests its
popular name, the Pencil Nebula.
About 5 light-years long
and a mere 800 light-years away, the Pencil Nebula is only a small part of the Vela supernova remnant.
The Vela remnant itself is around 100 light-years in diameter and is the
expanding debris cloud of a star that was seen to explode about 11,000
years ago.
Initially, the shock wave was moving at millions of kilometers per hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping up surrounding interstellar gas.
Image Credit: ESO