When stars reach the final stages of their life they can create massive structures of
clouds dust and energy known as nebulae. Here are 25 of the most beautiful photos of them that will
make you fall in love with the cosmos. Number 25 The Seahorse Inside the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Cataloged as NGC 2074, this MASSIVE emission nebula sits within the Large Magellanic Cloud one
hundred and sixty three thousand light years away, a satellite of the Milky Way galaxy.
This small portion of the larger nebula is only one hundred light years wide and
shows the embedded open star cluster and the section known as the Seahorse,
named for obvious reasons. Number 24: Pismus 24.
NGC 6357, shows an incredibly BRIGHT star within its massive clouds of dust and gas that was once
thought to be so large based on its luminosity that it may actually BREAK the laws of physics.
But further study shows that it derives its bright
light to at least three LARGE stars of at least one hundred solar masses.
Number 23: The Butterfly Nebula:
Sitting within the constellation Scorpius, four thousand light years away, NGC 6302 shines
brightly in two MASSIVE wing-like ejections spanning over three light years of space.
The star that created this nebula is thought to have been EXTREMELY
hot and shined brightly with Ultraviolet life.
Temperatures within this nebula sit at an estimated two
hundred and fifty THOUSAND degrees Celsius.
Number 22: the Soul Nebula. Covering over one hundred light years of the cosmos and located
sixty five hundred light years away, IC 1848, this nebula is the home to a large stellar nursery.
The Soul Nebula also houses several clusters of stars, a mysterious source of STRONG radio
emissions, and a HUGE evacuated bubble formed by the stellar winds coming from newly formed stars.
Number 21: The Tarantula Nebula: Taken by the new James Webb Space Telescope, this nebula known
as 30 Doradus, the Tarantula Nebula lives one hundred and sixty one thousand light years away.
With distant galaxies seen in the backdrop behind the Nebula,
this image also shows the large, stellar nurseries that have been a
favorite of astronomers studying star formation for the past few decades.
The massive cavity in its center was hollowed
out by the INTENSE radiation emitted from the young stars.
Number 20: The Southern Ring Nebula. The Southern Ring Nebula, NGC 3132,
a death shroud covering a dying star much like our own Sun.
In the center we can see a star still shining brightly amongst the gas and dust,
the stellar companion of the dying star.
The unique movements within the pair’s orbits have generated the
complex structures seen within the nebula.
Number 19: The NGC 3603 Starburst. A stunning cosmic fireworks display, The cluster within the
nebula NGC 3603 contains a MASSIVE central cluster of HOT stars, twenty THOUSAND light years away.
The majority of the stars seen here were born at nearly the same time, leading the traditional
and INTENSE winds to blow much of the cloud away leaving a massive cavity in the nebula’s center.
Number 18: The Horsehead Nebula. With a figure formed out of the
opaque dust cloud lying in front of the glowing red emissions nebula,
shining due to the recombination of protons with electrons to form hydrogen atoms.
Surrounded by several other nebulae,
the Horsehead nebula has been included within many studies regarding the lifecycle of stars
Number 17: The Skull Nebula. Cataloged as NGC 246,
this nebula along with the dying star inside has captured the intrigue of astronomers.
This cloud of gas and dust has been expanding over the past few THOUSAND
years, in part propelled by the stellar winds of the dying star at its center.
Now stretching over two and half light years, this nebula will no doubt keep growing and
only time will tell what it will become once the star in the center reaches the end of its life.
Number 16: The Bubble Nebula. One of the most stunning and intriguing objects found
within our solar system was captured by Hubble back in twenty sixteen, NGC 7635,
known as the Bubble Nebula, is located about seventy one hundred light years away.
The star inside this structure burns roughly a MILLION times brighter than
our own sun and produces HOWLING solar winds that blow at speeds around six
and a half million kilometers per hour (four million miles).
Its central star will most likely go supernova
in ten to twenty million years, causing the bubble to go… POP!
Number 15: An Hourglass in Space. After exhausting its nuclear fuel,
the central star of the Hourglass Nebula ejected its layers, cooling
and creating the rainbows of colorful rings that make up this structure.
Taken only a few years after Hubble’s launch, this was one of the FIRST
images that showed the true beauty found out in the cosmos with shocking detail.
Number 14: Filaments of the Veil Nebula
Showing off Hubble’s new image processing, this shot of the Veil Nenula’s cascading
filaments of IONIZED oxygen and hydrogen, twenty one hundred light years from Earth.
Born around ten millennia ago in the death of a star roughly twenty times the mass of the Sun,
the nebula is a result of a fast burning star releasing
its material and energy in a cataclysmic release.
Number 13: The Crab Nebula. The very first supernova that we have a written
history of occurred in the year one thousand and fifty four, recorded
by Chinese Astronomers, is STILL one of the most studied objects in the galaxy.
NGC 1952, the Crab Nebula, has been viewed by astronomers over the past one thousand years
and since it was first noticed, has grown to span twelve light years.
Number 12: A Pillar of Gas and Dust. On the twentieth
anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope,
NASA debuted new images of a STRIKING column of gas and dust found inside the Carina Nebula.
This SMALL section of the larger nebula stretches three light years in height
as the newly formed stars in it blow away and consume the contents of the pillars.
Number 11: The Lagoon Nebula. Located four thousand light years away,
the Lagoon Nebula appears as a bulge in the constellation of Sagittarius
and is one of the hottest hubs for stellar formation in the galaxy.
The nebula seems to be locked in a chaotic cycle of birth and destruction
as newly formed stars burn HOT and FAST creating complex structures and
GHASTLY features that fascinate astronomers and hobbyists alike.
Number 10: The Omega Nebula Taken by an amateur astronomer,
this image captures NGC 6618, the Omega Nebula sits six thousand
light years away and stretches across fifteen light years from end to end.
The central region is PACKED with gas and dust, ripe for the beginnings of a stellar nursery.
Also known as the Swan, the Horseshoe, or the Lobster Nebula, there is no shortage of
names for what people see when they gaze at this wondrous structure in the sky.
Number 9: The Flaming Star Nebula. Near the center of IC 405, the Flaming Star Nebula,
is a HOT, BRIGHT, Variable O-type star energizes the surrounding cloud of gas
and dust to illuminate the hydrogen and other filaments of atomic gas.
Originally born in the Orion Nebula,
the star was ejected from its spot long ago and found its own spot in the cosmos.
Number 8: The Twin Jet Nebula. M2-9, the Twin Jet Nebula is a striking example of
a special type of planetary nebula referred to as a butterfly or bipolar nebula due to
its high energy jets of particles ejected out of the star's poles.
These jets are traveling at velocities over one million kilometers per hour (about six tenths
of a mile) and are thought to have formed from an outburst just over twelve hundred years ago
Number 7: The Californian Nebula. Known as NGC 1499, this cosmic cloud lies in the same arm of
the galaxy as us, sitting fifteen hundred light years away close to the Pleiades.
Spanning over one hundred light years,
this nebula has taken the familiar form of the state of California.
Number 6: Fairy of the Eagle Nebula. In this evaporating nebula, the dust sculptures of
the Eagle Nebula are being whittled down by POWERFUL radiation from nearby stars,
leaving behind this image of a cosmic fairy.
The radiation coming through these pillars of dust stretching for ten light years,
are BURNING at several thousand degrees and will one day be trimmed down to nothing.
Number 5: The Cat's Eye Nebula. Captured with both the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and Hubble,
NGC 6543 is a planetary nebula that shows us what our own Sun
may look like in the distant future, at least several BILLION years from now.
As stars like the Sun run out of fuel, they transform into a red giant,
shedding its outer layers and ejecting them out into the space around them
leaving behind a dense core that will inevitably form a white dwarf star.
Number 4: The Carina Nebula. James Webb has been
sending back its images of the cosmos for several months now,
and one of the most breathtaking ones yet is of the Cosmic Cliffs of NGC 3324, the Carina Nebula.
With its advanced cameras and sensors, it was able to capture not only the incredible
structures formed by the dust and gas clouds, but also the THOUSANDS of stars surrounding
this nebula in addition to all the stars being born from the condensing clouds.
Number 3: The Pillars of Creation. Within the larger Eagle Nebula,
sits one of the most famous stellar nurseries that have been found, the Pillars of Creation.
JWST has been able to capture this structure of gas and dust in INSANE detail that unlocks
what this region of the cosmos REALLY looks like with a backdrop of countless stars.
What else will Webb be able to capture throughout the cosmos?
Number 2: The Elephant's Trump Nebula. Living inside the constellation of Cepheus sits a
beautiful remnant of a long dead star known as IC 1396, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula.
This dark, dense globule section of the nebula is the only region of
the nebula protected from the intense energy and radiation from the MASSIVE
central star that has caused the entire region to become IONIZED.
Number 1: The Orion Nebula's Close-up. One of the most well known constellations, Orion,
can be found by looking for three of the largest and brightest stars in the sky.
This constellation is also home to the Orion Nebula which happens to be a fiery,
thriving stellar nursery.
In this image from JWST, astronomers got their closest look at the birth of
stars and the MASSIVE quantities of ultraviolet radiation they produce.
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