                        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 June 18

                           The Gamma Cygni Nebula
    Image Credit & Copyright: Min Xie, Chen Wu, Yizhou Zhang, and Benchu
                                    Tang

   Explanation: Supergiant star Gamma Cygni is at the center of the
   Northern Cross. Near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, that famous
   asterism flies high in northern summer night skies in the constellation
   Cygnus the Swan. Known by the proper name Sadr, Gamma Cygni also lies
   just below center in this telescopic skyscape, with colors mapped from
   both broadband and narrowband image data. The field of view spans about
   3 degrees (six Full Moons) on the sky and includes emission nebula IC
   1318 and open star cluster NGC 6910. Filling the upper part of the
   frame and shaped like two glowing cosmic wings divided by a long dark
   dust lane, IC 1318's popular name is understandably the Butterfly
   Nebula. Right of Gamma Cygni, are the young, still tightly grouped
   stars of NGC 6910. The distance to Gamma Cygni is around 560 parsecs or
   1,800 light-years. Estimates for IC 1318 and NGC 6910 range from 2,000
   to 5,000 light-years.

                       Tomorrow's picture: don't crash
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