A scarlet plume of hydrogen radiates from the vibrant cosmic image of the galaxy Messier 82 (M82) shown above. Also known as the Cigar Galaxy, this galaxy is located approximately 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.
It is known as a starburst galaxy because of its extremely high rate of star formation. In fact, for every star born in the Milky Way, 10 stars were born in M82. The reason for this much greater activity is M82’s gravitational interaction with a nearby galaxy known as M81.
The stunning image here is the clearest wide-angle view of M82 ever taken. It was assembled using shots taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in both infrared and visible wavelengths.
Shining with ethereal beauty is the Cat’s Eye Nebula, or NGC 6543 (pictured above), also photographed by Hubble. It’s a planetary nebula. Despite the name, these have nothing to do with planets, but are formed when Sun-like stars actively eject their outer gas layers to form a spectacular display. The nebula’s concentric, pastel-colored rings are shells of material ejected in a series of pulses, with about 1,500 years between each event.
Both of these great scenes are featured in the following books Cosmos: Explore the mysteries of the universereleased on October 3rd.
Astrophysicist Becky Smethurst, who wrote the book’s foreword, said: “I hope readers will take away a sense of wonder at how incredibly vast and beautiful our universe is.” Masu. We don’t know about our universe. ”
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