           APOD: 2017 July 20 - IC 1396: Emission Nebula in Cepheus

                         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.

                                 2017 July 20
                                      [2]
                     IC 1396: Emission Nebula in Cepheus
           Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Cesar Blanco Gonzalez [4]

Explanation: Stunning emission nebula IC 1396 mixes [5] glowing cosmic gas and
dark dust clouds in the high and far off [6]  constellation of Cepheus.
Energized by the bright central star seen here, this star forming region [7]
sprawls across hundreds of light-years, spanning over three degrees on the sky
while nearly 3,000 light-years from planet Earth. Among the intriguing dark
shapes [8]  within IC 1396, the winding Elephant's Trunk [9] nebula lies just
below center. Stars could still be forming inside the dark shapes by
gravitational collapse. But as the denser clouds are eroded away by powerful
stellar winds and radiation, any forming stars will ultimately be cutoff from
the reservoir of star stuff. The gorgeous color view [10] is a composition of
image data from narrowband filters, mapping emission from the nebula's atomic
oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur into blue, green, and red hues.

                   Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space [11]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
< [12] | Archive [13] | Submissions [14] | Index [15] | Search [16] | Calendar
  [17] | RSS [18] | Education [19] | About APOD [20] | Discuss [21] | > [22]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [23] (MTU [24] ) & Jerry Bonnell [25]
                                  (UMCP [26] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [27] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [28]
              A service of: ASD [29]  at NASA [30]  / GSFC [31]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [32]
----------
Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1707/MOSAIC_IC1396_HaSHO_blanco.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] http://www.cieloprofundo.com/
  [5] https://arxiv.org/abs/1103.1646
  [6] ap170119.html
  [7] http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/resources/star_formation/
  [8] ap050521.html
  [9] http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/
1052-ssc2003-06a-Dark-Globule-in-IC-1396
  [10] http://www.cieloprofundo.com/cesar/
pagina_gral_banda%20estrecha/paginas_banda%20estrecha/ MOSAICO%20IC%201396.html
  [11] ap170721.html
  [12] ap170719.html
  [13] archivepix.html
  [14] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [15] lib/aptree.html
  [16] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [17] calendar/allyears.html
  [18] /apod.rss
  [19] lib/edlinks.html
  [20] lib/about_apod.html
  [21] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=170720
  [22] ap170721.html
  [23] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [24] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [25] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [26] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [27] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [28] http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [29] http://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [30] http://www.nasa.gov/
  [31] http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [32] http://www.mtu.edu/
