                        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.

                                2026 March 17

                           The Tadpoles of IC 410
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Nico Carver

   Explanation: This telescopic close-up shows off the central regions of
   otherwise faint emission nebula IC 410, captured under backyard skies.
   Presented in a Hubble color palette, the image combines visible
   broadband and narrowband data with data from the near-infrared. Below
   and right of center are two remarkable inhabitants of the interstellar
   pond of gas and dust. the Tadpoles of IC 410. Partly obscured by
   foreground dust, the nebula itself surrounds NGC 1893, a young galactic
   cluster of stars. Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million
   years ago, the intensely hot, bright cluster stars energize the glowing
   gas. But the cosmic tadpoles themselves are composed of denser cooler
   gas and dust. Around 10 light-years long they are likely sites of
   ongoing star formation. Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation their
   heads are outlined by bright ridges of ionized gas while their tails
   trail away from the cluster's central young stars. IC 410 lies some
   10,000 light-years away, toward the nebula-rich constellation Auriga.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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