An astrophotographer has captured a cosmic “explosion”

Astrophotographer Miguel Claro has captured an image of the constellation Cassiopeia with the visible glow of clouds of ionized hydrogen. The most impressive detail in the image is the bright frontal shock wave surrounding two planetary nebulae – the smaller Abell 6 and the larger HFG1.

Astrophotographer Miguel Claro has taken this image of Cassiopeia.

The HFG1 nebula is characterized by a distinct blue glow, forming an arc-shaped structure that resulted from the movement of the double star system V664 Cas through the Milky Way galaxy. Such shock waves are sickle-shaped structures resulting from the interaction between the stellar wind and the surrounding interstellar medium.