NGC 3199

NGC 3199, known as the Banana Nebula, is an emission nebula located 12,000 light years away in the southern constellation of Carina (the Keel), discovered in 1826 by James Dunlop The nebula has an arc shaped form and covers a distance of 75 light years. It was thought to be the bow shock around the central star, WR 18 - an especially hot and luminous Wolf-Rayet star, hwever, it now thought that the nebula formed due to the composition of local space, not because of the star’s movement.