Wizard Nebula

This is the Wizard Nebula, or NGC 7380. This is a narrowband image constructed in a modified Hubble palette.

The wizard nebula is a nebula surrounding an open cluster that’s brimming with new stars. It’s somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 light-years away and around 20 light-years across.

Look closely and remember! Because in about a million years this nebula will have dissipated!

Another cool thing about this nebula is that it was discovered by a female pioneer, Caroline Herschel, a German scientist. She’s the first female in record that received a salary as a scientist, she was the first woman in England to hold a non-heraldic government position, and the first woman to publish with the Royal Society.