APOD -- NGC 2736: The Pencil Nebula

apod.nasa.gov — Cataloged as NGC 2736, and about 5 light-years long and a mere 800 light-years away, the Pencil Nebula is only a small part of the Vela supernova remnant. The thin, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge on; the expanding debris cloud of a star that was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago.