Gum Nebula

The Gum Nebula is visible as the faint large red nebula in this image. Credit: P. Horálek/ESO

The Gum Nebula (Gum 12) is an emission nebula that extends across 40° in the southern constellations Vela and Puppis. It lies roughly 400 parsecs from the Earth. Hard to distinguish, it is believed to be the greatly expanded (and still expanding) remains of a supernova that took place about a million years ago. It contains the smaller and younger Vela Supernova Remnant, along with the Vela Pulsar.

It is named after its discoverer, the Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum (1924–1960). Gum had published his findings in 1955 in a work called A study of diffuse southern H-alpha nebulae (see Gum catalog).

In Popular Culture

The Gum Nebula is explored by the crew of the Starship Titan in the Star Trek novel Orion's Hounds.

See also

• CG 4
• Barnard's Loop

External links

• Gum Nebula on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images
• APOD: Gum Nebula, with mouse over (2009.08.22)
• Galaxy Map: Entry for Gum 12 in the Gum Catalog
• Galaxy Map: Detail chart for the Gould Belt (showing the location of Gum 12 relative to the sun)
• Encyclopedia of Science: Entry for the Gum Nebula (erroneously called Gum 56)
• SouthernSkyPhoto.com