The Lobster Claw Nebula (Sharpless 157) is a bright emission nebula. It lies near the edge of the northern constellation Cassiopeia, bordering on Cepheus. It sits very closely to another interesting emission nebula, NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula. Additionally there are a couple more interesting deep-sky objects captured in the frame, the Planetary nebula Sharpless 157a and NGC 7510. The Lobster Claw Nebula is approx. 11,050 light years from Earth.
The Bubble Nebula also known as NGC 7635 or Sharpless 162. The “bubble” is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7 magnitude young central star. The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble ...