APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Reflections of the Ghost Nebula
Explanation: Do any shapes seem to jump out at you from this interstellar field of stars and dust? The jeweled expanse, filled with faint, starlight-reflecting clouds, drifts through the night in the royal constellation of Cepheus . Far from your own neighborhood on planet Earth , these ghostly apparition s lurk along the plane of the Milky Way at the edge of the Cepheus Flare molecular cloud complex some 1,200 light-years away. Over two light-year s across and brighter than the other spooky chimera s, VdB 141 or Sh2-136 is also known as the Ghost Nebula , seen toward the bottom of the featured image . Within the reflection nebula are the telltale signs of dense cores collapsing in the early stages of star formation.
Tour the Universe: Random APOD Generator
| Date | October 30, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit & Copyright: Bogdan Jarzyna |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |