                        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.

                                2022 April 5

                       Seven Sisters versus California
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Neven Krcmarek

   Explanation: On the upper right, dressed in blue, is the Pleiades. Also
   known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades is one of the
   brightest and most easily visible open clusters on the sky. The
   Pleiades contains over 3,000 stars, is about 400 light years away, and
   only 13 light years across. Surrounding the stars is a spectacular blue
   reflection nebula made of fine dust. A common legend is that one of the
   brighter stars faded since the cluster was named. On the lower left,
   shining in red, is the California Nebula. Named for its shape, the
   California Nebula is much dimmer and hence harder to see than the
   Pleiades. Also known as NGC 1499, this mass of red glowing hydrogen gas
   is about 1,500 light years away. Although about 25 full moons could fit
   between them, the featured wide angle, deep field image composite has
   captured them both. A careful inspection of the deep image will also
   reveal the star forming region IC 348 and the molecular cloud LBN 777
   (the Baby Eagle Nebula).

                        Tomorrow's picture: far star
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