The Jellyfish Nebula gets its name from its striking resemblance to the graceful tendrils of a jellyfish swimming through the cosmic sea. It is a testament to the dynamic and chaotic nature of the universe, where destruction begets creation on a mind boggling scale.
The Jellyfish (properly known as IC 443), located in the constellation Gemini, is a supernova remnant, the celestial echo of a massive stellar explosion that occurred between 3000 and 30,000 years ago. The remnants of this cataclysmic event have given rise to a stunning display of nebulous structures for us to admire from our vantage point here on Earth.
IC 443 (Jellyfish Nebula) (56 min total exposure Feb 7, 2024)
_prc2+ASAC.jpg)
(Click
here
To show image full size, press ESC To Return.)
The Jellyfish Nebula is a fairly large object, appearing about 1.7 times the diameter of the moon. At the estimated distance of 5,000 light years from Earth, that corresponds to a physical size of roughly 70 light years.
At the heart of IC 443 lies a pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star formed in the aftermath of the supernova explosion. The pulsar, though invisible except to radio telescopes, causes the surrounding ionized hydrogen gas to glow in brilliant shades of red and pink.
(The bright star we see near the right side of the nebula, Eta Geminorum, is about 380 light-years away from us, only 1/13 of the distance to the Jellyfish and thus completely unrelated.)