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NGC 1360: The Robin’s Egg Nebula

By |2025-05-14T09:09:05-04:00May 14th, 2025|Categories: NASA News, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |

Photo of the Day This pretty nebula lies some 1,500 light-years away, its shape and color in this telescopic view reminiscent of a robin's egg. The cosmic cloud spans about 3 light-years, nestled securely within the boundaries of the southern constellation of the Furnace (Fornax). Recognized as a planetary nebula, egg-shaped NGC 1360 doesn't [...]

The Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrared

By |2025-04-20T09:09:08-04:00April 20th, 2025|Categories: NASA News, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |

Photo of the Day The Great Nebula in Orion is a colorful place. Visible to the unaided eye, it appears as a small fuzzy patch in the constellation of Orion. Long exposure, multi-wavelength images like this, however, show the Orion Nebula to be a busy neighborhood of young stars, hot gas, and dark dust. [...]

Planetary Nebula NGC 1514 from Webb

By |2025-04-15T09:09:06-04:00April 15th, 2025|Categories: NASA News, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |

Photo of the Day What happens when a star runs out of nuclear fuel? For stars like our Sun, the center condenses into a white dwarf while the outer atmosphere is expelled into space to appear as a planetary nebula. The expelled outer atmosphere of planetary nebula NGC 1514 appears to be a jumble [...]

Near to the Heart Nebula

By |2024-12-17T08:09:16-05:00December 17th, 2024|Categories: NASA News, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |

Photo of the Day What excites the Heart Nebula? First, the large emission nebula on the upper left, catalogued as IC 1805, looks somewhat like a human heart. The nebula glows brightly in red light emitted by its most prominent element, hydrogen, but this long-exposure image was also blended with light emitted by sulfur [...]

M42: The Great Nebula in Orion

By |2024-11-04T08:09:14-05:00November 4th, 2024|Categories: NASA News, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |

Photo of the Day The Great Nebula in Orion, an immense, nearby starbirth region, is probably the most famous of all astronomical nebulas. Here, glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1500 light-years away. In the featured deep image in assigned colors highlighted by emission [...]

LDN 43: The Cosmic Bat Nebula

By |2024-10-27T09:09:15-04:00October 27th, 2024|Categories: NASA News, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |

Photo of the Day What is the most spook-tacular nebula in the galaxy? One contender is LDN 43, which bears an astonishing resemblance to a vast cosmic bat flying amongst the stars on a dark Halloween night. Located about 1400 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus, this molecular cloud is dense enough to [...]

The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant

By |2024-09-18T09:09:15-04:00September 18th, 2024|Categories: NASA News, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |

Photo of the Day 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 [...]

Tulip Nebula and Black Hole Cygnus X-1

By |2024-08-28T09:09:31-04:00August 28th, 2024|Categories: NASA News, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |

Photo of the Day When can you see a black hole, a tulip, and a swan all at once? At night -- if the timing is right, and if your telescope is pointed in the right direction. The complex and beautiful Tulip Nebula blossoms about 8,000 light-years away toward the constellation of Cygnus the [...]

The Crab Nebula from Visible to X-Ray

By |2024-07-23T09:09:08-04:00July 23rd, 2024|Categories: NASA News, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |

Photo of the Day What powers the Crab Nebula? A city-sized magnetized neutron star spinning around 30 times a second. Known as the Crab Pulsar, it is the bright spot in the center of the gaseous swirl at the nebula's core. About 10 light-years across, the spectacular picture of the Crab Nebula (M1) frames [...]

Sh2-132: The Lion Nebula

By |2024-06-10T09:09:06-04:00June 10th, 2024|Categories: NASA News, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , |

Photo of the Day Is the Lion Nebula the real ruler of the constellation Cepheus? This powerful feline appearing nebula is powered by two massive stars, each with a mass over 20 times greater than our Sun. Formed from shells of ionized gas that have expanded, the nebula's energetic matter not only glows, but [...]

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