                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2019 January 31
                                      [2]
                          Sharpless 308: Star Bubble
                  Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Laubing [4]

Explanation: Blown by fast winds from a hot, massive star, this cosmic bubble
[5]  is huge. Cataloged as Sharpless [6]  2-308 it lies some 5,200 light-years
away toward the constellation of the Big Dog (Canis Major [7] ) and covers
slightly more of the sky than a Full Moon. That corresponds [8]  to a diameter
of 60 light-years at its estimated distance. The massive star that created the
bubble, a Wolf-Rayet star [9] , is the bright one near the center of the
nebula. Wolf-Rayet stars [10]  have over 20 times the mass of the Sun and are
thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova phase [11]  of massive star evolution.
Fast winds from this Wolf-Rayet star [12]  create the bubble-shaped nebula as
they sweep up slower moving material from an earlier phase of evolution. The
windblown [13]  nebula has an age of about 70,000 years [14] . Relatively
faint emission captured in the expansive image is dominated by the glow of
ionized oxygen atoms mapped to [15]  a blue hue. SH2-308 is also known as The
Dolphin Nebula.

                      Tomorrow's picture: twin galaxies

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [27] (MTU [28] ) & Jerry Bonnell [29]
                                  (UMCP [30] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [31] .
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              A service of: ASD [33]  at NASA [34]  / GSFC [35]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [36]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1901/SH2-308Laubing2048.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] https://www.astrobin.com/385665/?nc=collection&nce=994
  [5] https://www.astrobin.com/385665/?nc=collection&nce=994
  [6] http://galaxymap.org/cgi-bin/sharpless.py?s=1
  [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EZ_Canis_Majoris
  [8] http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/ scale_distance.html
  [9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf-Rayet_star
  [10] http://earthsky.org/space/
wolf-rayets-are-the-most-massive-and-brightest-stars-known
  [11] ap030325.html
  [12] https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/
hubble-view-wolf-rayet-stars-intense-and-short-lived
  [13] ap080522.html
  [14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Paleolithic
  [15] http://hubblesite.org/gallery/behind_the_pictures/
meaning_of_color/eagle.php
  [16] ap190130.html
  [17] archivepix.html
  [18] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [19] lib/aptree.html
  [20] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [21] calendar/allyears.html
  [22] /apod.rss
  [23] lib/edlinks.html
  [24] lib/about_apod.html
  [25] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190131
  [26] ap190201.html
  [27] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [28] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [29] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [30] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [31] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [32] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [33] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [34] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [35] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [36] http://www.mtu.edu/
