¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2020 October 7 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Ou4: A Giant Squid in a Flying Bat Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Yannick Akar Explanation: A very faint but very large squid-like nebula is visible in planet Earth's sky -- but inside a still larger bat. The Giant Squid Nebula cataloged as Ou4, and Sh2-129 also known as the Flying Bat Nebula, are both caught in this cosmic scene toward the royal [4]royal constellation Cepheus. [5]Composed with 55 hours of narrowband image data, the telescopic field of view is 3 degrees or 6 Full Moons across. [6]Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager [7]Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula's alluring [8]bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue-green [9]emission from doubly ionized [10]oxygen atoms. Though apparently [11]completely surrounded by the reddish [12]hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and nature of the [13]Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, a more [14]recent investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie [15]within Sh2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, Ou4 would represent a spectacular outflow driven by HR8119, a [16]triple system of hot, massive stars seen near the center of the nebula. The truly giant [17]Squid Nebula would physically be nearly 50 [18]light-years across. New: [19]APOD Mirror in Turkish from [20]Rasyonalist Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space __________________________________________________________________ [21]< | [22]Archive | [23]Submissions | [24]Index | [25]Search | [26]Calendar | [27]RSS | [28]Education | [29]About APOD | [30]Discuss | [31]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [32]Robert Nemiroff ([33]MTU) & [34]Jerry Bonnell ([35]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [36]Specific rights apply. [37]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [38]ASD at [39]NASA / [40]GSFC & [41]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2010/SquidBat_Akar_4485.jpg 3. https://www.instagram.com/dotexplore/ 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cepheus_(constellation) 5. https://astrophotomannheim.de/images/sh2-129-ou4/ 6. http://arxiv.org/abs/1206.2477 7. http://outters.fr/wp/?page_id=50 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200913.html 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebulium 10. https://periodic.lanl.gov/8.shtml 11. https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/merleblanc84/72357974/752179/752179_original.jpg 12. https://periodic.lanl.gov/1.shtml 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid#/media/File:Composite_diagram_illustrating_basic_squid_features,_ventral_aspect.jpg 14. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014A%26A...570A.105C/abstract 15. http://www.astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2013/12/a-start-of-new-project-cepheus-mosaic.html 16. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/newly-discovered-planet-has-3-suns 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140718.html 18. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/ 19. https://rasyonalist.org/apod-gunun-astronomi-gorseli/ 20. https://rasyonalist.org/ 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201006.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 30. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=201007 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201008.html 32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 34. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 35. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 37. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 38. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 41. http://www.mtu.edu/