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.

                               2020 January 28

                    Star Formation in the Tadpole Nebula
      Image Credit: WISE, IRSA, NASA; Processing & Copyright: Francesco
                                  Antonucci

   Explanation: What's all of the commotion in the Tadpole Nebula? Star
   formation. Dusty emission in the Tadpole Nebula, IC 410, lies about
   12,000 light-years away in the northern constellation of the Charioteer
   (Auriga). The cloud of glowing gas is over 100 light-years across,
   sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from embedded open star cluster
   NGC 1893. Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago,
   bright newly formed cluster stars are seen all around the star-forming
   nebula. Notable near the image center are two relatively dense
   streamers of material trailing away from the nebula's central regions.
   Potentially sites of ongoing star formation in IC 410, these cosmic
   tadpole shapes are about 10 light-years long. The featured image was
   taken in infrared light by NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer
   (WISE) satellite.

   Discovery + Outreach: Graduate student research position open for APOD
                     Tomorrow's picture: steaming galaxy
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

--- hpt/lnx 1.9.0