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.

                              2019 September 21

                            The Tulip in the Swan
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Eder

   Explanation: Framing a bright emission region, this telescopic view
   looks out across a pretty field of stars along the plane of our Milky
   Way Galaxy, toward the nebula rich constellation Cygnus the Swan.
   Popularly called the Tulip Nebula, the reddish glowing cloud of
   interstellar gas and dust is also found in the 1959 catalog by
   astronomer Stewart Sharpless as Sh2-101. About 8,000 light-years
   distant and 70 light-years across the complex and beautiful nebula
   blossoms near the center of this composite image. Ultraviolet radiation
   from young energetic O stars at the edge of the Cygnus OB3 association,
   ionizes the atoms and powers the emission from the Tulip Nebula.

                         Tomorrow's picture: eye sky
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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