                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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.

                                2021 July 29

                          The Tulip and Cygnus X-1
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Carlos Uriarte

   Explanation: This tall telescopic field of view looks out along the
   plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the nebula rich constellation
   Cygnus the Swan. Popularly called the Tulip Nebula, the brightest
   glowing cloud of interstellar gas and dust above center is also found
   in the 1959 catalog by astronomer Stewart Sharpless as Sh2-101. Nearly
   70 light-years across the complex and beautiful Tulip Nebula blossoms
   about 8,000 light-years away, shown in a Hubble palette image that maps
   the glow of the nebula's sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen ions into red,
   green, and blue colors. Ultraviolet radiation from young energetic
   stars at the edge of the Cygnus OB3 association, including O star HDE
   227018, ionizes the atoms and powers the emission from the Tulip
   Nebula. Also in the field of view is microquasar Cygnus X-1, one of the
   strongest X-ray sources in planet Earth's sky. Driven by powerful jets
   from a black hole accretion disk, its fainter bluish curved shock front
   is only just visible though, directly above the cosmic Tulip's petals
   near the top of the frame.

                       Tomorrow's picture: Saturnshine
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