Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Astronomy Picture of the Day - The Pelican Nebula in Gas, Dust, and Stars
NASA ^ | 7 Sep, 2026 | Image Credit & Copyright: Mark Killion

Posted on 09/07/2026 11:27:31 AM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: The Pelican Nebula is slowly being transformed. IC 5070 (an official designation) is divided from the larger North America Nebula by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust. The deep featured picture from Utah, USA incorporates 25 hours of exposure and brings out great details of this filamentary dust. The Pelican Nebula receives much study because it is a particularly active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds. The light from young energetic stars is slowly transforming the cold gas to hot gas, with the advancing boundary between the two, known as an ionization front, visible in bright orange on the upper right. Particularly dense tentacles of cold gas remain. Millions of years from now, the Pelican Nebula, bounded by dark nebula LDN 935, might no longer be known as the Pelican, as the balance and placement of stars and gas will surely leave something that appears completely different.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.

To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 09/07/2026 11:27:31 AM PDT by MtnClimber
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 09/07/2026 11:28:01 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 31R1O; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; ...
Pinging the APOD list

đŸȘ 🌟 🌌 🍔

3 posted on 09/07/2026 11:29:33 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Looks more like a raven..........


4 posted on 09/07/2026 11:33:14 AM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Wow.


5 posted on 09/07/2026 11:36:52 AM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Looks like rabbit to me


6 posted on 09/07/2026 11:36:54 AM PDT by goodnesswins (Most Congress Critters should be referred to as what they are....LOOTERS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Jackson Pollack writ very large.


7 posted on 09/07/2026 12:00:57 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (Stupidity is an acquired trait, requiring many years of careful practice)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

It’s JarJar Binks!


8 posted on 09/07/2026 12:04:54 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer” )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

There’s nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth!


9 posted on 09/07/2026 12:11:53 PM PDT by equaviator (Nobody's perfect. That's why they put pencils on erasers!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

And now for something completely different



10 posted on 09/07/2026 12:39:23 PM PDT by NavyShoe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NavyShoe

I’ve always had a hard time imagining the whole “gas and dust” description of space. I believe the scientific descriptions, but it’s tough to understand how gas and dust eventually form objects. Please don’t attempt to describe it to me, Ive already read a description.


11 posted on 09/07/2026 1:45:06 PM PDT by sgt_lau (Join me in wishing the pedophile “piss be upon him”. Now go back to your sharia homeland.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: NavyShoe

...a pelican with three buttocks!


12 posted on 09/07/2026 1:45:31 PM PDT by null and void (Iran Pres Masoud Pezeshkian: “Common sense is a good thing ... Common sense is really a good thing.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: sgt_lau

Whose tagline is “I see puppies in the clouds”?


13 posted on 09/07/2026 1:46:29 PM PDT by null and void (Iran Pres Masoud Pezeshkian: “Common sense is a good thing ... Common sense is really a good thing.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson