                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

                              2025 November 28

                        NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula
                     Image Credit & Copyright: Greg Bass

   Explanation: NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a about 25
   light-years across, a cosmic bubble blown by winds from its central,
   massive star. This deep telescopic image includes narrowband image
   data, to isolate light from hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The oxygen atoms
   produce the blue-green hue that seems to enshroud the nebula's detailed
   folds and filaments. Visible within the nebula, NGC 6888's central star
   is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). The star is shedding its
   outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the
   Sun's mass every 10,000 years. In fact, the Crescent Nebula's complex
   structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with
   material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate
   and near the end of its stellar life, this star should ultimately go
   out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. Found in the
   nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years
   away.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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