Astronomers with the European Southern Observatory took the new view of the Pencil nebula using the La Silla Observatory in Chile’s high Atacama Desert. The nebula contains the remains of a colossal supernova explosion centuries ago that blasted gas and dust into interstellar space.
“These glowing filaments were created by the violent death of a star that took place about 11,000 years ago,” ESO officials said in an image announcement Wednesday. “The brightest part resembles a pencil; hence the name, but the whole structure looks rather more like a traditional witch’s broom.”
The Pencil nebula, also known as NGC 2736, is about 800 light-years from Earth and moving at a clip of about 403,891 mph (650,000 kph). It is the brightest part of a vast expanding shell of gas in the constellation Vela (The Sails) that is known as the Vela supernova remnant.
source: showbizspy
