Gum Nebula

Gum Nebula

Largest known emission nebula in terms of how much of the sky it occupies as seen from Earth, extending over about 35° in the southern constellations Puppis and Vela. A complex of diffuse, glowing gas too faint to see with the unaided eye, it was discovered in the 1950s. It lies roughly 1,000 light-years from Earth and may be the remnant of an ancient supernova.

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Gum Nebula [′gəm ′neb·yə·lə]

(astronomy)

A giant nebula about 250 parsecs (5 × 10¹⁵miles or 8 × 10¹⁵kilometers) in diameter, with its near edge about 300 parsecs (6 × 10¹⁵miles or 9 × 10¹⁵kilometers) distant, which is both an old supernova remnant and an H II region.