IC 433 – The Jellyfish Nebula

Here is yet another deep sky object that I would have never been able to capture with my old camera. The Dwarf 3 continues to impress me.

The Jellyfish Nebula is a supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Gemini located in the “foot” of Castor, the western twin. The nebula is about 5,000 light years away from Earth and spans nearly twice the width of the full moon in the sky. At that size and distance, it is about 70 light years across. Light from the explosion is thought to have reached Earth sometime between 30,000 and 35,000 years ago, but some estimates place it as recent as 3,000 years ago.

In the image below, the bright star on the left is named Tejat and the one on the right is Propus. Both are visible to the naked eye as the upper part of the foot of the twin Castor. The next time you look up at the stars in the early fall to early spring, see if you can find Gemini (star map) and identify these two stars. Then remember back to the image below to get an idea of how big this SNR appears in the sky.

A much dimmer and older SNR, designated G189.6+3.3, has been identified in the same region. Its age is estimated to be around 100,000 years. I’m not certain that any part of it is visible in this image, but there is some faint nebulosity to the lower left of the Jellyfish that may be part of the older SNR.

Click on the link below to view the full-size version of this image:

IC 433 – The Jellyfish Nebula