Monday, March 8, 2010

January 22, 2010

IC 443

Nicknamed the Jellyfish Nebula by some astronomers for its seemingly dangling tentacles, this faint nebula in Gemini (appearing close to M35) is, in fact, the remnant of a supernova, the violent death of a massive star, which occurred sometime in the last 10,000-30,000 years. The nebula is about 5,000 light years distant.


This image combines subexposures of 300 and 400 seconds taken on January 10, 12, 20 & 22, for a total exposure time of 235 minutes, or just under four hours.

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