A celestial witch's broom?—A new view of the pencil nebula
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 - 06:02
in Astronomy & Space
(Phys.org)—The Pencil Nebula is pictured in a new image from ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. This peculiar cloud of glowing gas is part of a huge ring of wreckage left over after a supernova explosion that took place about 11 000 years ago. This detailed view was produced by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope.