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Astronomy Picture of the Day
NASA ^ | 2/21/08 | Victor Bertol

Posted on 02/21/2008 2:12:16 PM PST by sig226


Orion's Horsehead Nebula
Credit & Copyright:
Victor Bertol

Explanation: The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most famous nebulae on the sky. It is visible as the dark indentation to the red emission nebula seen just below and left of center in the this photograph. The brightest star on the left is located in the belt of the familiar constellation Orion. The horse-head feature is dark because it is really an opaque dust cloud that lies in front of the bright red emission nebula. Like clouds in Earth's atmosphere, this cosmic cloud has assumed a recognizable shape by chance. After many thousands of years, the internal motions of the cloud will alter its appearance. The emission nebula's red color is caused by electrons recombining with protons to form hydrogen atoms. Also visible in the picture are blue reflection nebulae that preferentially reflect the blue light from nearby stars.


TOPICS: Astronomy Picture of the Day
KEYWORDS: apod; horseheadnebula

1 posted on 02/21/2008 2:12:16 PM PST by sig226
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To: fnord; Number57; KevinDavis; rdb3; MNJohnnie; thoughtomator; RightWhale; proudofthesouth; ...

2 posted on 02/21/2008 2:12:56 PM PST by sig226 (If we took the bones out it wouldn't be crunchy.)
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To: sig226

This is a very difficult object for small telescopes such as amateurs would have.


3 posted on 02/21/2008 2:18:07 PM PST by RightWhale (Clam down! avoid ataque de nervosa)
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To: RightWhale

IC 434 is about 1,500 light-years from the earth.


4 posted on 02/21/2008 2:27:55 PM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: RightWhale

Eh, ya just gotta stand closer to it.


5 posted on 02/21/2008 2:32:24 PM PST by cripplecreek (Just call me M.O.M. (Maverick Opposed to McCain.))
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To: sig226

Nice. Do you have a one-stop link for all of the Astronomy Photos of The Day?


6 posted on 02/21/2008 2:52:29 PM PST by BlueStateBlues (Blue State for business, Red State at heart..)
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To: BlueStateBlues
CLICKIE
7 posted on 02/21/2008 5:05:17 PM PST by WSGilcrest (I'm beginning to realize I don't realize what I'm saying.)
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To: BlueStateBlues
Lemme try that again...


CLICKIE HERE INSTEAD
8 posted on 02/21/2008 5:07:40 PM PST by WSGilcrest (I'm beginning to realize I don't realize what I'm saying.)
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To: BlueStateBlues
You are warned. Clicking on this link can make you sit at the pc for hours with perhaps no end and certainly no recognition of the passage of time.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

9 posted on 02/21/2008 6:28:34 PM PST by sig226 (If we took the bones out it wouldn't be crunchy.)
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To: WSGilcrest

Keyword search apod and they’re all indexed.


10 posted on 02/21/2008 7:19:23 PM PST by sig226 (If we took the bones out it wouldn't be crunchy.)
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To: sig226

Beautiful


11 posted on 02/22/2008 6:18:48 AM PST by hattend (We're running out of topsoil so "POOP IT UP!" - Rush Limbaugh, 23 Jan 2008)
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