This image may not be used to state or imply NOAO endorsement of any company or product Crescent Nebula or NGC 6888, optical image. North is at top. A

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This image may not be used to state or imply NOAO endorsement of any company or product Crescent Nebula or NGC 6888, optical image. North is at top. A nebula is a cloud of interstellar dust or gas. This nebula is an expanding shell of gas shed by the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136. A Wolf-Rayet star is a rare type of very hot, massive, short-lived star. The Crescent Nebula appears in the constellation of Cygnus. It is about 3000 light years away. Photographed by the NOAO Mosaic CCD camera at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona, USA. This is a composite image created by combining images taken at several emission-line wavelengths.

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Size: 3600px × 3192px
Photo credit: © NOAO/AURA/NSF/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 136, 6888, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysics, birth, composite, cosmology, crescent, cygnus, evolution, formation, nebula, ngc, optical, science, star, starbirth, stellar, wind, wolf-rayet, wr