                    APOD: 2017 December 29 - M78 Wide Field

                         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 December 29
                                      [2]
                                M78 Wide Field
                Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Fabian Neyer [4]

Explanation: Interstellar [5] dust clouds and glowing nebulae [6] abound in
the fertile constellation of Orion [7] . One of the brightest, M78 [8] , is
centered in this colorful, wide field view [9] , covering an area north of
Orion's belt [10] . At a distance of about 1,500 light-years, the bluish
reflection nebula is around 5 light-years across. Its tint is due to dust
preferentially [11] reflecting the blue light [12] of hot, young stars.
Reflection nebula NGC 2071 is just to the left [13]  of M78. To the right, and
much more compact in appearance, the intriguing McNeil's Nebula [14]  is a
recently recognized variable nebula associated with a young sun-like star.
Deeper red flecks of emission from Herbig-Haro objects [15] , energetic jets
from stars in the process of formation, stand out against the dark dust lanes.
The exposure also brings out the region's fainter pervasive glow of atomic
hydrogen gas.

                    Tomorrow's picture: free parking [16]

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [28] (MTU [29] ) & Jerry Bonnell [30]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1712/m78_l2_neyer2048.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] http://www.starpointing.com/
  [5] http://www-ssg.sr.unh.edu/ism/what1.html
  [6] https://nasaviz.gsfc.nasa.gov/12086
  [7] ap161204.html
  [8] http://www.messier.seds.org/m/m078.html
  [9] http://www.starpointing.com/ccd/m78.html
  [10] ap171123.html
  [11] http://leo.astronomy.cz/mix/mix.html
  [12] http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/ BlueSky/blue_sky.html
  [13] http://www.starpointing.com/ccd/m78_labeled.html
  [14] ap040219.html
  [15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Herbig%E2%80%93Haro_object#Discovery_and_history_of_observations
  [16] ap171230.html
  [17] ap171228.html
  [18] archivepix.html
  [19] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [20] lib/aptree.html
  [21] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [22] calendar/allyears.html
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  [24] lib/edlinks.html
  [25] lib/about_apod.html
  [26] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=171229
  [27] ap171230.html
  [28] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [29] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [30] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
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  [32] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
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