NGC 6888 - The Crescent and Soap Bubble Nebulas

The finale to my summer tour of Cygnus--a floating brain in space. I've shot this target in one way or another at least five times, but this one is the one I would hang my hat on for now. While not close to perfect, it's a step above all my other efforts. The faint oxygen envelope around the top and tendrils at the bottom of the brain are a challenge to capture. But the Soap Bubble in the lower left is the most challenging part.

The Crescent is an artifact from the emissions of the central Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136) that has come in waves over the last half-million years or so. WR 136 is destined to blow itself apart in a supernova explosion in the next few million years. The faint Soap Bubble (PN G75.5+1.7), discovered by amateur Dave Jurasevich in 2007, is a planetary nebula formed by emissions from a dying star that was once very similar to our sun.

Details: Celestron EdgeHD 1100 telescope; 10Micron GM1000HPS mount; ZWO ASI6200MM main camera; Chroma broadband and 3nm narrowband filters; Bortle 8; 26hrs integration time.

Full-resolution image: https://astrob.in/f5i8w3/0/

On WorldWide Telescope: https://tinyurl.com/2hpekwyd

#nasa #nebulas #snoapbubblenebulas #science #astronomy #universe #crescent