The Jellyfish Nebula is a Supernova Remnant
However, Supernova Remnants can look quite different.
A Supernova Remnant is the remains of a very large star that violently exploded. A healthy star maintains a balance between the inward gravitational pull and its outward stellar wind. When gravity overwhelms a massive star, it collapses inward and explodes violently.
The main image is the Jellyfish Nebula which exploded 30,000 years ago. It has a telltale round shape, is 5,000 light-years distance and about 70 light-years in size. In a telescope, it appears very faint, but somewhat larger than a full Moon.
The Jellyfish Nebula is the remnant of a relatively young star that exploded while it was still in its progenitor cloud (stellar nursery). Thus, the expanding spherical shock wave contains much of this progenitor debris.
By contrast, the Veil Nebula (below) is more conventional: a large aging star that exploded 15,000 years ago in a comparatively open region. With less dust and gas to push, it now appears quite dissipated, with disconnected thin strands arching over a broad expanse of our sky.
The Crab Nebula (below) is the remnants of a nearby star that exploded only about 1,000 years ago, and was witnessed by many. Mayan, Chinese, Japanese and Arab astronomers documented the event in great detail. Chinese astronomers noted that it grew brighter over several months and was eventually visible during the day. Then, it suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Today, we see a dense brilliant cloud with red and blue filaments interspersed like coloured threads in a ball of white yarn. Compared to the Jellyfish Nebula (30,000 years ago) and the Veil Nebula (15,000 years ago), the Crab Nebula event (1,000 years) is very recent. So very recent, that, on a cosmic scale, we should consider it still in the process of exploding.
I photographed the Jellyfish Nebula from my garden in Strasbourg France in March 2026 and February 2024. This final image was built from 97 photos, where each was a 5 minute exposure (8 hours of photography).
Equipment used to capture images:
Telescope: Redcat51
Computer: ASIAIR
Camera: ASI183MC-PRO
Mount: AM5
Filter: Optolong L-Enhance
Processing Software:
Pixinsight + WBPP + MAS
Blur Exterminator
Noise Exterminator
Star Exterminator
Seti Astro Suite
