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List of largest nebulae

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List of largest nebulae
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The "List of largest nebulae" is a compilation of the largest nebular structures known, ordered by their actual physical size, ranging from galaxy-scale clouds to star-forming regions. It opens with huge intergalactic nebulae and halos, such as the enormous Lyα nebulae (e.g., Slug Nebula), cosmic halo clouds around galaxies, and the Magellanic Stream, extending up to over a million light-years. Further down are the largest H II regions and emission nebulae, including the Tarantula Nebula, NGC 604, and the Carina Nebula, which are stellar nurseries spanning hundreds to a few thousand light-years. The list notes that nebular boundaries are not strictly defined, and measurements can vary with new observations. This article provides the scope of the scale and variety of cosmic clouds, from intergalactic gas filaments to local star-forming complexes.

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NGC 604, one of largest nebulae (H II region) is located in the Triangulum Galaxy (viewed by the Hubble Space Telescope).
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Caveats

Nebulae have no standardized boundaries, so the measurements are subject to revision. Furthermore, scientists are still defining the features and parameters of nebulae. Because of these rapid developments and adjustments, this list may be unreliable.

Lyman alpha nebulae around quasars can have sizes between 15 kpc and 460 kpc.[1] Especially large Enormous Lyα nebula (ELAN) can have large sizes of ≳100 kpc.[2] Farina et al. 2019 table 5 has an extensive compilation of Lyman alpha nebulae around quasars.[1] For now this list contains only the largest ELANs, with sizes larger than 300 kpc.

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List

More information Image, Nebula ...
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See also

Notes

  1. distance × sin( diameter_angle ) = 1,895 ly
  2. distance × sin( diameter_angle ) = 1,520 ly
  3. Those measurements are based on an apparent diameter of 480 arcminutes (') plus an assumed distance of 1.5 kpc and the current distance of VY CMa which is about 1.17 kpc as the nebula is sometimes found to have the same distance as VY CMa.

References

Sources

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