Subj : Daily APOD Report
To   : All
From : Alan Ianson
Date : Sun Jan 07 2024 04:51:32

                        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.

                               2024 January 7
   An image of the Cat's Eye Nebula shows an unsually shaped gas structure
        glowing in purple with a bright orange center. Please see the
                 explanation for more detailed information.

                  The Cat's Eye Nebula in Optical and X-ray
     Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive; Chandra X-ray Obs.;
                      Processing & Copyright: Rudy Pohl

   Explanation: To some it looks like a cat's eye. To others, perhaps like
   a giant cosmic conch shell. It is actually one of the brightest and
   most highly detailed planetary nebula known, composed of gas expelled
   in the brief yet glorious phase near the end of life of a Sun-like
   star. This nebula's dying central star may have produced the outer
   circular concentric shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of
   regular convulsions. The formation of the beautiful,
   complex-yet-symmetric inner structures, however, is not well
   understood. The featured image is a composite of a digitally sharpened
   Hubble Space Telescope image with X-ray light captured by the orbiting
   Chandra Observatory. The exquisite floating space statue spans over
   half a light-year across. Of course, gazing into this Cat's Eye,
   humanity may well be seeing the fate of our sun, destined to enter its
   own planetary nebula phase of evolution ... in about 5 billion years.

      Free APOD Lecture: January 9, 2024 to the Amateur Astronomers of
                           Association of New York
                    Tomorrow's picture: Venus year around
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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