Subj : Daily APOD Report To : All From : Ben Ritchey Date : Wed Sep 19 2018 11:20:44 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] . Follow APOD on: Facebook [16] , Google Plus [17] , Instagram [18] , or Twitter [19] Tomorrow's picture: gems of the Southern Crown ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- < [20] | Archive [21] | Submissions [22] | Index [23] | Search [24] | Calendar [25] | RSS [26] | Education [27] | About APOD [28] | Discuss [29] | > [30] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [31] (MTU [32] ) & Jerry Bonnell [33] (UMCP [34] ) NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [35] . NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [36] A service of: ASD [37] at NASA [38] / GSFC [39] & Michigan Tech. U. [40] ---------- Site notes: [1] archivepix.html [2] image/1809/Cocoon_Drechsler_4000.jpg [3] http://www.marcel-drechsler.de/ueber_mich.html [4] http://www.sternwarte-baerenstein.de/ [5] http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/cosmic_reference/dust.html [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_5146 [7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_(constellation) [8] ap010113.html [9] https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/reflection_nebulae.html [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-areas/how-do-stars-form-and-evolve [15] ap121211.html [16] https://www.facebook.com/AstronomyPictureOfTheDay [17] https://plus.google.com/u/1/+AstronomyPictureOfTheDay [18] https://www.instagram.com/astronomypicturesdaily/ [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/apod_search [25] calendar/allyears.html [26] /apod.rss [27] lib/edlinks.html [28] lib/about_apod.html [29] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180919 [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/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html [34] http://www.astro.umd.edu/ [35] lib/about_apod.html#srapply [36] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html [37] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ [38] https://www.nasa.gov/ [39] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ [40] http://www.mtu.edu/ --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A39 (Windows/32) * Origin: FIDONet - The Positronium Repository (1:393/68) .