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Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Wisps Surrounding the Horsehead Nebula
NASA ^ | September 09, 2012 | (see photo credit)

Posted on 09/08/2012 9:16:56 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

Explanation: The famous Horsehead Nebula in Orion is not alone. A deep exposure shows that the dark familiar shaped indentation, visible just below center, is part of a vast complex of absorbing dust and glowing gas. To bring out details of the Horsehead's pasture, amateur astronomers at the Star Shadow Remote Observatory in New Mexico, USA fixed a small telescope on the region for over seven hours filtering out all but a very specific color of red light emitted by hydrogen. They then added the image to a full color frame taken over three hours. The resulting spectacular picture details an intricate tapestry of gaseous wisps and dust-laden filaments that were created and sculpted over eons by stellar winds and ancient supernovas. The Horsehead Nebula lies 1,500 light years distant towards the constellation of Orion. Two stars from the Orion's Belt can be found in the above image.

September 09, 2012

(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; horseheadnebula; science
[Credit & Copyright: Star Shadows Remote Observatory]

1 posted on 09/08/2012 9:17:06 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: brytlea; cripplecreek; decimon; bigheadfred; KoRn; Grammy; married21; steelyourfaith; Mmogamer; ...
Students and Autodidacts: See video astronomy lectures for free

2 posted on 09/08/2012 9:19:35 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

that is an outstanding photo!


3 posted on 09/08/2012 9:30:10 PM PDT by RitchieAprile
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To: RitchieAprile

I like this one much better than yesterday’s, but the story yesterday was more interesting. ;’)


4 posted on 09/08/2012 9:48:26 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Code Pink?


5 posted on 09/08/2012 9:52:08 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: bigbob

Wrong end of the horse.


6 posted on 09/08/2012 10:09:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv
I'm still jazzed up over the Pleiades, so I'm afraid this might flip me into overload. Anyway, here's a wider view as rendered by my Starry Night software:

It's at about the same scale as the APOD, but rotated a little to the right. You can see the stars near the top of the Orion Nebula ( in the sword ) which also are shown in the APOD. The bright stars near the Horsehead are tricky. The very bright blue blob, and the dimmer pink blob correspond to the two bright stars close to the Horsehead in the APOD, as you can see by placing them in the larger context. The bright nebulosity to the left of the blue blob can be matched to the bright "spidery" area in the APOD. This blue blob is the leftmost star in the belt. The middle belt star is the bright star on the left of the APOD, and appears much less bright in my screen shot, where the rightmost star of the belt is at the very top edge.

7 posted on 09/08/2012 10:55:57 PM PDT by dr_lew
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To: SunkenCiv

Beautiful.

Thanks for posting this SunkenCiv.


8 posted on 09/09/2012 1:14:56 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: SunkenCiv

I like these pictures for the detail and so on, but understand that they are always over-exposed or processed in some way to show specific things— photoshopping without dishonest intent, so to speak.

One of these days I’d like to see a picture of what our night sky would look like to the naked eye if we lived close enough that that picture stretched from horizon to horizon.

(That is worded awkwardly. I hope it is understood.)


9 posted on 09/09/2012 1:52:48 AM PDT by ExGeeEye (Wait a minute! Romney doesn't suck? I'm trying to keep up.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I’ll bet on THAT horse any day!

Great Picture, Civ! :-)


10 posted on 09/09/2012 5:19:52 AM PDT by left that other site (Worry is the Darkroom that Develops Negatives.)
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To: SunkenCiv

11 posted on 09/09/2012 5:35:32 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
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To: SunkenCiv

I see man’s continual struggle to find meaning in the vastness of the universe. That or a cherry slurpee.


12 posted on 09/09/2012 8:00:01 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: ExGeeEye
See if this is along the lines of what you are looking for. It is one of my favorite APODs.

The Big Picture

13 posted on 09/09/2012 7:14:38 PM PDT by GATOR NAVY
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To: blueunicorn6

:’D


14 posted on 09/09/2012 7:50:24 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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