14 DAY TRIAL // Astronomers decided recently to revisit the area of the sky containing the Cocoon Nebula, after producing a remarkable infrared picture of its path through space earlier this year. The new image reveals the long trail that the object leaves behind as it plows through interstellar space.
The Cocoon Nebula, known among astronomers as IC 5146, is currently moving through a thick interstellar dust cloud at great speeds, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The cloud becomes disrupted as the cosmic formation is creating a tunnel straight through it.
NASA reports that this object is situated in the constellation Cygnus, at a distance of about 4,000 light-years. This is relatively short in astronomical terms, and the object is so visible because it is itself about 15 light-years in diameter.
IC 5146 is powered by a young central star, whose age astronomers estimate to be no more than a few hundred thousand years old. The intense radiation it produces helps the nebula disperse massive volumes of gas and dust from the surrounding medium.