Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                              2018 September 19
                                      [2]
                          Cocoon Nebula Deep Field
    Image Credit & Copyright: Marcel Drechsler [3] (Baerenstein Obs. [4] )

Explanation: Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars.
The cosmic Cocoon on the upper right also punctuates a long trail of obscuring
interstellar dust [5]  clouds to its left. Cataloged as IC 5146 [6] , the
beautiful nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide, located some 3,300 light years
away toward the northern constellation of the Swan (Cygnus [7] ). Like other
star forming regions, it stands out in red, glowing, hydrogen gas [8] excited
by young, hot stars and blue, dust-reflected [9]  starlight at the edge of a
nearly invisible molecular cloud [10] . In fact, the bright star near the
center of this nebula is likely only a few hundred thousand years old,
powering the nebular glow as it slowly clears out [11]  a cavity in the
molecular cloud [12] 's star forming dust and gas. This exceptionally deep
color view [13] of the Cocoon Nebula traces tantalizing features within and
surrounding the dusty stellar [14] nursery [15] .

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                Tomorrow's picture: gems of the Southern Crown

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [31] (MTU [32] ) & Jerry Bonnell [33]
                                  (UMCP [34] )
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1809/Cocoon_Drechsler_4000.jpg
  [3] http://www.marcel-drechsler.de/ueber_mich.htm...
  [4] http://www.sternwarte-baerenstein.de/
  [5]
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_cla...
  [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_5146
  [7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_(constell...
  [8] ap010113.html
  [9] https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/reflection_nebulae...
  [10] http://loke.as.arizona.edu/~ckulesa/research/ overview.html
  [11] ap170625.html
  [12] ap171008.html
  [13] https://www.astrobin.com/362666/0/?nc=user
  [14]
https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-a...
  [15] ap121211.html
  [16] https://www.facebook.com/AstronomyPictureOfTh...
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  [18] https://www.instagram.com/astronomypicturesda...
  [19] http://twitter.com/apod/
  [20] ap180918.html
  [21] archivepix.html
  [22] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [23] lib/aptree.html
  [24] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apo...
  [25] calendar/allyears.html
  [26] /apod.rss
  [27] lib/edlinks.html
  [28] lib/about_apod.html
  [29] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?dat...
  [30] ap180920.html
  [31] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [32] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [33] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnel...
  [34] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [35] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [36] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Priv...
  [37] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
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  [39] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [40] http://www.mtu.edu/

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