Wednesday, Nov 13, 2024

Sh2-98 (the red ring on the right) is an emission nebula visible in the constellation Cygnus. It has an irregular shape and is surrounded by a sort of large, lighter nebulous ring. The best period for its observation in the evening sky falls between the months of June and November. Sh2-98 is one of the weakest members of the Sharpless catalog on which little information exists. This “cosmic donut” is associated with a molecular cloud 3,000 times the mass of the Sun, located about 12,000 light-years away. Sh2-98 is illuminated by the bright orange star at the bottom right of the ring, known as WR130. WR130 is a Wolf-Rayet star, a type of extremely hot, luminous and massive star, and is one of the rarest classes of stars known. As of 2018, only 154 had been identified in the Milky Way. Some produce spectacular nebulae, e.g. the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888), thanks to their strong stellar winds, intense ultraviolet emissions, and the gas clouds they emit early in their relatively short lives. On the left, permeated with a bright bluish color, there is a supernova remnant called SNR G067.6 + 00.9. In astronomy, a supernova remnant (SNR from the English term Supernova remnant) is the material left behind by the gigantic explosion of a very massive star, in the final phase of its life.