      APOD: 2018 January 9 - Bright Planetary Nebula NGC 7027 from Hubble

                         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 January 9
                                      [2]
                Bright Planetary Nebula NGC 7027 from Hubble
  Image Credit: Hubble [3] , NASA [4] , ESA [5] ; Processing & License [6] :
                               Judy Schmidt [7]

Explanation: It is one of the brightest planetary nebulae on the sky -- what
should it be named? First discovered in 1878, nebula NGC 7027 [8]  can be seen
toward the constellation of the Swan [9]  (Cygnus) with a standard backyard
telescope [10] . Partly because it appears there as only an indistinct spot,
it is rarely referred to with a moniker. When imaged with the Earth-orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope [11] , however, great details are revealed. Studying
Hubble images of NGC 7027 [12] have led to the understanding [13] that it is a
planetary nebula [14] that began expanding about 600 years ago [15] , and that
the cloud of gas and dust is unusually massive as it appears to contain about
three times the mass of our Sun. Pictured here [16]  in assigned colors, the
resolved, layered, and dust-laced features of NGC 7027 might remind sky
enthusiast [17] s of a familiar icon that could be the basis for an informal
name. A leading previous suggestion [18]  was the Pillow Nebula [19] , but
please feel free to make new suggestions -- for example, in an online APOD
discussion forum [20] .

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1801/NGC7027_HubbleSchmidt_960.jpg
  [3] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html
  [4] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [5] http://www.esa.int/
  [6] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
  [7] http://geckzilla.com/
  [8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_7027
  [9] http://stardate.org/nightsky/constellations/Cygnus
  [10] ap050413.html
  [11] http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview
  [12] http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/n7027.html
  [13] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000ApJ...539..783L
  [14] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXiMWrNC6T0
  [15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1418
  [16]
https://www.flickr.com/photos/geckzilla/9597685537/in/album-72157635424077786/
  [17]
http://mfrost.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/02/26/oldcamera451.jpg
  [18] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=130826
  [19]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillow#/media/File:Pillows_in_the_corner.jpg
  [20] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180109
  [21] http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=37750
  [22] ap180110.html
  [23] ap180108.html
  [24] archivepix.html
  [25] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [26] lib/aptree.html
  [27] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [28] calendar/allyears.html
  [29] /apod.rss
  [30] lib/edlinks.html
  [31] lib/about_apod.html
  [32] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180109
  [33] ap180110.html
  [34] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [35] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [36] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [37] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [38] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [39] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [40] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [41] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [42] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [43] http://www.mtu.edu/
