#hubble's variable nebula

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Hubble's Variable Nebula, NGC 2261 // AnaTa

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NGC 2261 - Hubble's Variable Nebula

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Hubble's Variable Nebula, NGC 2261 // Rajat Kumar

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Hubble's Variable Nebula, C46 // Kent Wood

The bright star at the corner of the "fan" is R Monocerotis, a very young binary star system. Light from this star lights up the nearby cloud of gas and dust, but observations over just weeks shows that the nebula changes brightness. One explanation is that dense clouds of dust near R Monocerotis pass in front of it, periodically blocking light and casting a shadow on the nearby clouds.

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Hubble's Variable Nebula, C46 // Haejong Kim

Hubble's Variable Nebula (NGC 2261) is cloud of gas and dust extending from a bright star like smoke rising from a newly lit fire. This reflection variable nebula lies about 2,500 light years away in the constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn.

Although it was first discovered by William Herschel (1738-1822) in 1783, it was Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) who performed the first detailed analysis of this peculiar fan-shaped nebula.

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Two fast moving stars near Hubble's Variable Nebula, NGC 2261 // Jean-Pierre Lees

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Hubble's Variable Nebula, NGC 2261 // Javier

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NGC 2261: Hubble's Variable Nebula

Image Credit: Hubble, NASA, ESA; Data: Mark Clampin (NASA's GSFC); Processing & License: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: What causes Hubble's Variable Nebula to vary? The unusual nebula featured here changes its appearance noticeably in just a few weeks. Discovered over 200 years ago and subsequently cataloged as NGC 2261, the remarkable nebula is named for Edwin Hubble, who studied itearly last century. Fitting, perhaps, the featured image was taken by another namesake of Hubble: the Space Telescope. Hubble's Variable Nebula is a reflection nebula made of gas and fine dust fanning out from the star R Monocerotis. The faint nebula is about one light-year across and lies about 2500 light-years away towards the constellation of the Unicorn (Monocerotis). The leading variability explanation for Hubble's Variable Nebula holds that dense knots of opaque dust pass close to R Mon and cast moving shadows onto the reflecting dust seen in the rest of the nebula.