- The most famous nebula and easily the most recognized nebula with the naked eye is the Orion Nebula in the Constellation of Orion the Hunter. The Nebula serves as the sword at the waist of this great warrior. The Orion Nebula is 30 lightyears across.
- In another galaxy, a neighboring galaxy, the Large Megellanic Cloud, lies the largest nebula within our part of the Cosmos. It is 160,000 lightyears away and it is 700 lightyears across. The luminosity of the Tarantula Nebula is so great that if it were as close as the Orion Nebula it would cast shadows on the surface of Earth.
- The Nebula is a wide expanse of hydrogen gas that is being excited by a fierce emission of ultraviolet light coming from a very active star cluster at the center. The mass of this star cluster is 450,000 Solar Mass. It is 35 lightyears across inside the 700 lightyears diameter Nebula. The central cluster is occupied by at least 39 massive stars. These stars are big, between 37 and 76 Solar Mass each. And, one of these stars appears to be more massive than astronomers thought was possible. Astronomers usually put the limit on how big a star can be at 150 Solar Mass. But, this one is calculated to weigh 265 Solar Mass. This massive star shines with an intensity of 10 million Suns.
- Astronomers also theorize that a massive star shining this bright can not live very long. Maybe only a couple million years before it burns all its fuel and explodes as a Supernova. Wait and see. This may be another supernova we get to witness. In 1987 at the outskirts of the Tarantula Nebula we witnessed the latest naked-eye supernova since the year 1604. See Review # #831 to learn about the 1987 Supernova. See #1318 to learn about Kepler’s Supernova of 1604. See #510 “ Supernova You Can See” about 6 of these supernova .
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, November 9, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment