Astronomy Picture of the Day
Posted By admin On November 1, 2011 @ 10:21 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
[1]Image Credit & Copyright: Rolf Geissinger [2]
Explanation: What powers are being wielded in the Wizard Nebula? Gravitation strong enough to form stars, and stellar wind [3]s and radiations powerful enough to create and dissolve towers of gas [4]. Located only 8,000 light years away, the Wizard nebula, pictured above [5], surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer [6]. The active star forming region [7] spans 100 about light years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be can be located [8] with a small telescope toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus [9]) Although the nebula may [10] last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.
Article printed from Recorder Online: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com
URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/11/01/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-83/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ngc7380_geissenger_1600.jpg
[2] Rolf Geissinger: http://www.stern-fan.de/
[3] stellar wind: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000318.html
[4] towers of gas: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100328.html
[5] pictured above: http://www.stern-fan.de/Seiten/galerie_Bild_NGC7380-RGB.html
[6] medieval sorcerer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magician_%28fantasy%29
[7] active star forming region: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_7380
[8] can be located: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100909.html
[9] Cepheus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cepheus_%28constellation%29
[10] nebula may: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011AJ....142...71C
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