#variable nebula

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NGC 2261 - Hubble's Variable Nebula

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Hind's Variable Nebula, NGC 1555 // George Hatfield

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Hubble's Variable Nebula, NGC 2261 // AnaTa

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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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Hind's Variable Nebula, NGC 1555 // FrancoisGAP

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Hind's Variable Nebula, NGC 1555 // Roger Bertuli