@Techaltar I love #Nebula.
Signed up awhile ago and now its subscriptions provide me the most of my big screen time. And the weekly "Happy Friday!.." is on the top of my list.
I almost ditched #YouTube by now.
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APOD from 2025-07-16
The Rosette #Nebula from DECam
The Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237), captured by DECam in Chile, houses young star cluster NGC 2244. Their UV light makes the nebula glow. Spanning 100 ly and located 5000 ly away in Monoceros, it's visible with a small #telescope.
HD image at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250716.html#space #astronomy
APOD from 2025-07-13
Planetary #Nebula Mz3: The Ant Nebula
Planetary nebula Mz3's ant-like shape may be due to a second star or the central star's spin and magnetic field, influencing the high-speed gas ejection. Understanding Mz3 could shed light on our Sun's future.
HD image at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250713.html#space #astronomy #earth #universe
2025 July 13
Planetary Nebula Mz3: The Ant Nebula
* Image Credit: NASA, ESA, R. Sahai (JPL) et al., Hubble Heritage Team
https://www.nasa.gov/
https://www.esa.int/https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Sahai/
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
Explanation:
Why isn't this ant a big sphere? Planetary nebula Mz3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that is, surely, round. Why then would the gas that is streaming away create an ant-shaped nebula that is distinctly not round? Clues might include the high 1000-kilometer per second speed of the expelled gas, the light-year long length of the structure, and the magnetism of the star featured here at the nebula's center. One possible answer is that Mz3 is hiding a second, dimmer star that orbits close in to the bright star. A competing hypothesis holds that the central star's own spin and magnetic field are channeling the gas. Since the central star appears to be so similar to our own Sun, astronomers hope that increased understanding of the history of this giant space ant can provide useful insight into the likely future of our own Sun and Earth.
https://esahubble.org/news/heic0101/
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/the-ant-nebula-menzel-3-fiery-lobes-protrude-from-dying-sun-like-star/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mz_3
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004AJ....128.1694G/abstract
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap971106.html
The Cat's Paw Nebula, captured by JWST
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2025/129/01JY2AEHHAE4057AGG56YHW1CQ
Lynds Dark Nebula 1251
Also known as the Rotten Fish Nebula, LDN 1251 is a dark molecular cloud where stars are forming. It lies about 1,000 light-years away in Cepheus and spans over 25 light-years.
APOD – July 10, 2025
Credit: Cristiano Gualco
2024 September 18
A starfield is shown with a long blue-glowing nebula taking up much of the frame. The nebula appears, to some, similar to a fish or a mermaid.
The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant
* Image Credit & Copyright: Neil Corke; Text: Natalia Lewandowska (SUNY Oswego)
https://app.astrobin.com/u/NeilCorke#gallery
https://ww1.oswego.edu/physics/profile/natalia-lewandowska
https://ww1.oswego.edu/physics/
Explanation:
New stars are born from the remnants of dead stars. The gaseous remnant of the gravitational collapse and subsequent death of a very massive star in our Milky Way created the G296.5+10.0 supernova remnant, of which the featured Mermaid Nebula is part. Also known as the Betta Fish Nebula, the Mermaid Nebula makes up part of an unusual subclass of supernova remnants that are two-sided and nearly circular. Originally discovered in X-rays, the filamentary nebula is a frequently studied source also in radio and gamma-ray light. The blue color visible here originates from doubly ionized oxygen (OIII), while the deep red is emitted by hydrogen gas. The nebula's mermaid-like shape has proven to be useful for measurements of the interstellar magnetic field.
NOIRLab image of the week: Dueling Dust Dragons (in Space!)
The Fighting Dragons of Ara, formally designated NGC 6188, is an emission nebula located about 4000 light-years away near the edge of a large molecular cloud in the constellation Ara (the Altar).
Credit: Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Image processing: R. Colombari and M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)
APOD from 2025-07-10
Lynds Dark #Nebula 1251
Stars are born in LDN 1251, the "Rotten Fish Nebula," 1,000 light-years away in the Cepheus region. This dark nebula is filled with shocks and outflows from new stars, including Herbig-Haro objects. The view spans 25 light-years and includes distant galaxies obscured by dust.
HD image at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250710.html#space #astronomy #galaxy
Using data from NASA's Hubble and Webb space telescopes, astronomers and artists modeled the iconic Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16 or M16) in three dimensions, creating a movie that allows viewers to fly past and among the pillars.
The new visualization helps viewers experience how two of the world's most powerful space telescopes work together to provide a more complex and holistic portrait of the pillars. Hubble sees objects that glow in visible light, at thousands of degrees. Webb's infrared vision, which is sensitive to cooler objects with temperatures of just hundreds of degrees, pierces through obscuring dust to see stars embedded in the pillars.
A bonus product from this visualization is a new 3D printable model of the Pillars of Creation. The base model of the four pillars used in the visualization has been adapted to the STL file format, so that viewers can download the model file and print it out on 3D printers. Examining the structure of the pillars in this tactile and interactive way adds new perspectives and insights to the overall experience.
Printable 3D Model:
https://universe-of-learning.org/contents/products/pillars-of-creation-3d-model
Credit:
* Producers: Greg Bacon and Frank Summers (STScI), NASA's Universe of Learning;
* Visualization: Greg Bacon, Ralf Crawford, Joseph DePasquale, Leah Hustak, Danielle Kirshenblat, Christian Nieves, Joseph Olmsted, Alyssa Pagan, and Frank Summers (STScI), Robert L. Hurt (Caltech, IPAC); Science
* Advisor: Anna McLeod (Durham University);
* Music: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/new-hubble-webb-pillars-of-creation-visualization/
2024 October 22
M16: Pillars of Star Creation
* Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Processing: Diego Pisano
https://www.instagram.com/_diegopisano_/
https://www.nasa.gov/
https://www.esa.int/
https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/
https://www.stsci.edu/
Explanation:
These dark pillars may look destructive, but they are creating stars. This pillar-capturing picture of the Eagle Nebula combines visible light exposures taken with the Hubble Space Telescope with infrared images taken with the James Webb Space Telescope to highlight evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs) emerging from pillars of molecular hydrogen gas and dust. The giant pillars are light years in length and are so dense that interior gas contracts gravitationally to form stars. At each pillar's end, the intense radiation of bright young stars causes low density material to boil away, leaving stellar nurseries of dense EGGs exposed. The Eagle Nebula, associated with the open star cluster M16, lies about 7000 light years away.
High Resolution:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2410/M16_HubbleWebbPisano_6500.jpg
The tiny open cluster at the center of the Heart Nebula (IC1805) is known as Melotte 15. But it’s not really the cluster we’re interested in, it’s the amazing, twisty bit of nebulosity there that steals the show. This image is the combination of data from two scopes: the Vixen R200SS Newtonian and the TS-Optics Photoline 130 refractor. Both have nearly the same focal length (922 and 908mm, respectively) with their correctors included. I shot the same target 48 hours apart in order to do a head-to-head comparison, but the results were so good for both scopes that I combined them into a single image.
Text credit
Charles Bracken
https://app.astrobin.com/i/flz30w