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 October 29

                            The Ghoul of IC 2118
             Image Credit & Copyright: Casey Good/Steve Timmons

   Explanation: Inspired by the halloween season, this telescopic portrait
   captures a cosmic cloud with a scary visage. The interstellar scene
   lies within the dusty expanse of reflection nebula IC 2118 in the
   constellation Orion. IC 2118 is about 800 light-years from your
   neighborhood, close to bright bluish star Rigel at the foot of Orion.
   Often identified as the Witch Head nebula for its appearance in a wider
   field of view it now rises before the witching hour though. With spiky
   stars for eyes, the ghoulish apparition identified here seems to extend
   an arm toward Orion's hot supergiant star. The source of illumination
   for IC 2118, Rigel is just beyond this frame at the upper left.

                     Tomorrow's picture: fear and terror
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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