Normally faint and
elusive, the Jellyfish Nebula is caught in this
alluring telescopic view. Drifting near bright star Eta Geminorum,
at the foot of a celestial
twin, the Jellyfish Nebula is seen dangling tentacles from the bright
arcing ridge of emission left of center.
In fact, the cosmic
jellyfish is part of bubble-shaped supernova remnant IC 443,
the expanding debris cloud from a massive star
that exploded.
Light from the explosion
first reached planet Earth over 30,000 years ago. Like its cousin in
astrophysical waters the Crab
Nebula supernova remnant, IC 443 is known to harbor a
neutron star, the remnant of the collapsed stellar core.
The Jellyfish Nebula is
about 5,000 light-years away. At that distance, this image would be about 100
light-years across.
Image Credit & Copyright: Dieter
Willasch (Astro-Cabinet)