Astronomy Picture of the Day 3-25-02

NASA ^ | 3-25-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

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.

2002 March 25

An Unusual Globule in IC 1396
Credit & Copyright: Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT), Hawaiian Starlight, CHFT

Explanation: Is there a monster in IC 1396? Known to some as the Elephant's Trunk Nebula, parts of gas and dust clouds of this star formation region may appear to take on foreboding forms, some nearly human. The only real monster here, however, is a bright young star too far from Earth to hurt us. Energetic light from this star is eating away the dust of the dark cometary globule near the top of the above image. Jets and winds of particles emitted from this star are also pushing away ambient gas and dust. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint IC 1396 complex covers a much larger region on the sky than shown here, with an apparent width of more than 10 full moons.

[petuniasevan]

A star is born!

[petuniasevan]

APOD PING!

This one will stagger your imagination!

[petuniasevan]

PING!

[farmfriend]

I think I saw something like this on sightings. They said it was a picture of a ghost. Go figure.

[petuniasevan]

Come see the universe's wonders!

[RightWhale]

The CFHT is nearly 145 inches in diameter, which is one of the big scopes. They are also at one of the few remaining land sites on earth that doesn't suffer from light pollution. The image looks very good, but who would want to live there? That star is eating everything.

[aomagrat]

Nice!

[blam]

Neat Picture. Thanks.

[lepton]

with an apparent width of more than 10 full moons.

Wow!

[Vigilantcitizen]

Thanks for the ping!

Do you have a telescope?

[petuniasevan]

I used to. Had to sell my old workhorse 10" Equatorial Meade when I moved out of California.
My wish list does include a new 'scope, and I'm debating the merits of Dobsonian aperture/low price versus Equatorial astrophotgraphic capability/features.
But hey, I live in Wisconsin now, with less clear weather. And when it's clear, it's COLD. So I'll need to put up a dome, too.

[Vigilantcitizen]

"But hey, I live in Wisconsin now, with less clear weather. And when it's clear, it's COLD. So I'll need to put up a dome, too."

Hey, I remember you now. You were on a southern snow thread cracking wise about our driving.lol:')

I have a 8" reflective, that hasn't seen a star in a while.

When I was a kid,I had a cheap 4" straight telescope. I spent many hours out in the yard looking at The moon, Venus, etc.. Then, I learned about girls.LOL

[Dawgsquat]

I'm nearly speechless! I now have new wallpaper. Awesome!

[2Trievers]

AWESOME! I'm starstruck!

[Slip18]

Thank you again, petuniasevan! This photo is absolutely gorgeous . . .