The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs through this
complex
and beautiful skyscape.
At the northwestern edge of the constellation
Vela
(the Sails) the four frame mosaic is over 10 degrees wide,
centered on the glowing filaments of the
Vela
Supernova Remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the
death explosion of a massive star.
Light from the supernova explosion
that created the Vela remnant
reached Earth about 11,000 years ago.
In addition to the shocked filaments of glowing gas, the cosmic
catastrophe also left behind an incredibly dense,
rotating stellar core, the Vela Pulsar.
Some 800 light-years distant, the Vela remnant is likely
embedded
in a larger and older supernova remnant, the
Gum Nebula.
remnant
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