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. 2023 February 8 [2]A red oval and textured nebula is seen surrounded by a faint blue glow. A bright star is visible in the center, and many faint stars are visible in the background. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Stellar Wind-Shaped Nebula RCW 58 Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Mike Selby & [4]Mark Hanson; Text: [5]Natalia Lewandowska ([6]SUNY Oswego) Explanation: Imagine traveling to a star about [7]100 times as massive as our Sun, a million times more luminous, and with 30 times the surface temperature. Such stars exist, and some are known as [8]Wolf Rayet (WR) stars, named after French astronomers [9]Charles Wolf and [10]Georges Rayet. The central star in this image is [11]WR 40 which is located toward the constellation of [12]Carina. Stars like [13]WR 40 live fast and die young in comparison with the [14]Sun. They quickly [15]exhaust their core hydrogen supply, [16]move on to fusing [17]heavier core elements, and expand while ejecting their outer layers via high [18]stellar winds. In this case, the central star [19]WR 40 ejects the atmosphere at a speed of nearly [20]100 kilometers per second, and these outer layers have become the expanding oval-shaped nebula [21]RCW 58. Almost Hyperspace: [22]Random APOD Generator Tomorrow's picture: open space __________________________________________________________________ [23]< | [24]Archive | [25]Submissions | [26]Index | [27]Search | [28]Calendar | [29]RSS | [30]Education | [31]About APOD | [32]Discuss | [33]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [34]Robert Nemiroff ([35]MTU) & [36]Jerry Bonnell ([37]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [38]Specific rights apply. [39]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [40]ASD at [41]NASA / [42]GSFC, [43]NASA Science Activation & [44]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2302/Rcw58_Selby_4326.jpg 3. https://www.facebook.com/masterdarksastro/ 4. https://www.hansonastronomy.com/ 5. https://www.oswego.edu/physics/natalia-lewandowska 6. https://www.oswego.edu/physics/ 7. https://youtu.be/REHJvW53G54 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf%E2%80%93Rayet_star 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wolf_(astronomer) 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Rayet 11. https://www.universeguide.com/star/54283/wr40 12. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/constellations/carina.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211021.html 14. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/in-depth/ 15. https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1286001342/photo/chinchilla-kitten-scottish-fold-longhair-white-kitten-sleeping-on-the-bar.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=13mY7SFuMTXrqcDJq8XQpD7C0wUIkQ0uGBwlsHBCf24= 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_evolution#Massive_stars 17. http://apod.pl/htmltest/gifcity/msblues.html 18. https://esahubble.org/wordbank/stellar-wind/ 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200308.html 20. https://astrodonimaging.com/gallery/rcw-58-ring-nebula-in-carina/ 21. https://astrodrudis.com/rcw-58/ 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230207.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 32. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230208 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230209.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 37. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 39. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 40. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 43. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 44. http://www.mtu.edu/