nebula

Sharpless 2-188 |  Expanding gas from Sharpless 2-188  collides with ambient gas in the interstellar medium to create this unusual planetary nebula located in the constellation Cassiopeia. The nearly circular nebula is much brighter to the southeast (lower left) because the central star is moving rapidly in that direction. Faint wisps of gas can also be seen in the opposite direction.

This image shows off the impressive imaging capabilities of the new CCD detectors in the Mosaic 1.1 camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The image was generated with deep observations in the Hydrogen alpha filter (red) and the Oxygen [OIII] filter (cyan). In this image, North is up and East is to the left.