Nebula Pictures | Universe Today

Written by Fraser Cain

Here are some cool nebula pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Omega Nebula

This is a picture of the Omega Nebula, which is also known as the Swan Nebula, or M 17. It's located in the constellation Sagittarius, located about 5,000 light-years from Earth.

Cat's Eye Nebula

This is picture of the Cat's Eye Nebula, a planetary nebula in the constellation Draco. This used to be a star similar to our Sun, but then it died and became a white dwarf, puffing off its outer layers into space.

Carina Nebula

This is the Carina Nebula, a star forming nebula in the Carina Constellation. It holds Eta Carinae, one of the most massive stars ever discovered, which is expected to detonate as a supernova in the next few hundred thousand years.

Bubble Nebula. Image credit: Hubble

This is the Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7635. This nebula glows because of a hot central star that's providing radiation and exciting the nebula atoms.

Full view of the Trifid Nebula. Credit: ESO

This is a picture of the Trifid Nebula taken by the European Southern Observatory. This nebula was cataloged M 20 by Charles Messier as part of his famous catalog. It's called the "Trifid Nebula", because it appears to be broken up into three parts.

We have written many stories about nebulae for Universe Today. Here's an article with more details about the Trifid Nebula, and here's an article about planetary nebulae found around heavy stars.

If you want more nebula pictures, you should check out the source. Go to the Hubble Space Telescope page on nebulae.

We have recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast that's just about nebulae. Listen here, Episode 111: Nebulae.

Filed under: Astronomy