Astr111 Photography Projects, Fall 2009

Bubble Nebula, Joshua Brooker

NGC 7635, The Bubble Nebula, was formed by the emissions of a massive central star. This central star's hot solar winds sweep past the molecular clouds of the nebula. The ultra-violet light from these solar winds excites the molecular clouds and as they fall back down to lower energy states they emit radiation. This radiation explains the colors that we see emitting from the nebula.

When looking at the 10 light year wide Bubble Nebula, we primarily see the color red. This is the case with most emission nebulae as their primary component is hydrogen. Hydrogen's prominent emission line happens to be red which explains what we see here. The bubble retains it's circular shape because of the denser material that surrounds it. It resides in the middle of a molecular cloud which we can see encapsulating the bubble. In the middle of this nebula we see a bright star. This star is believed to have a mass 10 to 20 times that of our Sun and brightness that is several hundred thousand times larger than it as well.

References:
Arnett, Bill. N.p., 10 Feb. 1997. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. <http://astro.nineplanets.org/twn/types.html>.

Croman, Russel. N.p., 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/picture-galleries/5852123/Capturing-the-Stars-Astrophotography-by-the-Masters.html?image=2>.

Mouquet, Eric. N.p., 18 Oct. 2006. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. <http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061018.html>.