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Category Archive for: ‘Nebulae’

While hunting for comets in the skies above 18th century France, astronomer Charles Messier diligently kept a list of the things he encountered that were definitely not comets. This is number 27 on his now famous not-a-comet list. In fact, 21st century astronomers would identify it as a planetary nebula, but it’s not a planet …

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The famously named “Ring Nebula” (also catalogued as Messier 57, M57 or NGC 6720) appears in the northern constellation of Lyra and is located in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm. It is one of the most prominent examples of a planetary nebula, the gaseous remains of red giant star that has ended its life by expelling its …

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