Another planetary nebula, the Dumbbell nebula lies around 1,300 light years from Earth in the constellation of Vulpecula. It's estimated from it's expansion to have been from the collapse of the white dwarf (centre) around 10,000 years ago.
The average planetary nebula is thought to be visible for around 20,000 years, which is a blink of an eye in terms of the life length of even the shortest lived stars.
“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of a Library.” -Jorge Luis Borges ♡
l lulumoonowlbooks (x)
I finished all of my psychology plus french exams and assignments! Having some free time feels like the reward~
Face on spiral galaxies are not only amongst some of the most stunning objects in the night sky, but they reveal so much about galaxies, including our very own.
This galaxy is 25.2 million light years from us, in the constellation of Cepheus & Cygnus. It's 87,000 light years in diameter (100k for the Milky Way), so not too dissimilar.
Like most spiral galaxies it has a inner core of older more yellow/red stars giving a more creamy appearance, while the outer arms are dominated by vast nebula (pink) and large blue stars that come along with active star formation, for a few million years at least.
Unlike the Milky Way, it is classified as a star burst galaxy due to the huge amount of star formation, and why it's alter-ego "Fireworks Galaxy" is fairly apt, it has experienced 10 known supernova since records began.
Time Traveler ⏳
Leaving London for a week–– I always miss the city, looking forward to being back already (and who can blame me, just look at this light in the library)
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is nearly 200,000 light years from earth. The picture above shows how it consists of vast clouds of dust and gas most likely from old stars going supernova. It is a stellar nursery for stars, similar to a nebula.
Close to this is the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and it is largely believed that their irregular shape is due to a collision that occurred between them thousands of years ago.
A prominent feature of the LMC is the Tarantula nebula (which the James Webb telescope recently took a high res photo of).
Sadly, those in the Northern Hemisphere never get the chance to see the LMC - it is only visible in the Southern Hemisphere!
Kowloon: The Walled City