                APOD: 2018 March 16 - The Seagull and The Duck

                         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 March 16
                                      [2]
                          The Seagull and the Duck
          Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Raul Villaverde Fraile [4]

Explanation: Seen as a seagull and a duck, these nebulae are not the only
cosmic clouds [5]  to evoke images [6]  of flight. But both are winging their
way across this broad celestial landscape, spanning almost 7 degrees across
planet Earth's night sky [7] toward the constellation Canis Major [8] . The
expansive Seagull [9] (top center) is itself composed of [10] two major
cataloged emission nebulae [11] . Brighter NGC 2327 forms the head with the
more diffuse IC 2177 as the wings and body. Impressively, the Seagull's
wingspan would correspond to about 250 light-years at the nebula's estimated
distance of 3,800 light-years. At the lower right, the Duck appears much more
compact and would span only about 50 light-years given its 15,000 light-year
distance estimate. Blown by energetic winds from an extremely massive, hot
star near its center, the Duck nebula is cataloged as NGC 2359. Of course, the
Duck's thick body and winged appendages also lend it the slightly more
dramatic popular moniker, Thor's Helmet [12] .

                    Tomorrow's picture: and the Crab [13]

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  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
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  [5] ap080719.html
  [6] ap090910.html
  [7] http://www.twanight.org/
  [8] http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/constellations/ canismajor.html
  [9] ap090327.html
  [10] https://www.flickr.com/photos/113243238@N08/38742044570/
  [11] ap050930.html
  [12] ap080117.html
  [13] ap180317.html
  [14] ap180315.html
  [15] archivepix.html
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