Spaghetti Nebula, SH2-240

The Spaghetti Nebula SH2-240, is a supernova remnant cataloged as Simeis 147 and Sh2-240, the glowing gas filaments cover nearly 3 degrees — 6 full moons — on the sky.  That’s about 150 light years at the stellar debris cloud’s estimated distance of 3,000 light-years. This image captures only part of the nebula, a section that appears to feature a large bird of prey descending to its nest. The image was taken through Hydrogen, Sulfur and Oxygen narrow-band filters to highlight emission from the remaining atoms tracing the shocked, glowing gas. The Hydrogen gas is red in the image, Sulfur is green, and Oxygen is blue. The supernova remnant has an estimated age of about 40,000 years, meaning light from the massive stellar explosion first reached Earth about 40,000 years ago. But the expanding remnant is not the only aftermath. The cosmic catastrophe also left behind a spinning neutron star or pulsar, all that remains of the original star’s core.