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.

                                2026 April 7
    [2]A starfield surrounds a large nebula that is mostly brown and blue
    and has an appearance reminiscent of the head of a horse. This nebula
   is not the more famous Horsehead Nebula. Please see the explanation for
                         more detailed information.

                IC 4592: The Blue Horsehead Reflection Nebula
                Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Rabeea Alkuwari

   Explanation: Do you see the horse's head? What you are seeing is not
   the famous [4]Horsehead nebula toward [5]Orion, but rather a fainter
   nebula that only takes on a [6]familiar form with deeper imaging. The
   main part of the [7]here-imaged [8]molecular cloud complex is
   [9]reflection nebula [10]IC 4592. Reflection nebulas are made up of
   very fine [11]dust that normally appears dark but can look quite blue
   when reflecting the [12]visible light of energetic nearby stars. In
   this case, the source of much of the reflected light is a star at the
   [13]eye of the [14]horse. That star is part of [15]Nu Scorpii, one of
   the brighter star systems toward the constellation of the Scorpion
   ([16]Scorpius). A second [17]reflection nebula dubbed [18]IC 4601 is
   visible surrounding [19]two stars just below the image center. The
   featured picture was taken from [20]Sawda Natheel in [21]Qatar.

               Jigsaw Nebula: [22]Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [34]Robert Nemiroff ([35]MTU) & [36]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([37]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [38]Specific rights apply.
            [39]NASA Web Privacy, [40]Accessibility, [41]Notices;
                A service of: [42]ASD at [43]NASA / [44]GSFC,
                         [45]NASA Science Activation
                           & [46]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2604/BlueHorse_Alkuwari_1620.JPG
   3. https://www.instagram.com/bolahdan/
   4. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220921.html
   5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210509.html
   6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210704.html
   7. https://www.instagram.com/p/DUnQd2NEmK6/
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230129.html
   9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_nebula
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_4592
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html
  12. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight
  13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw0VJ1K93PM
  14. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DYPBo1QCnls/UBAUokUjOFI/AAAAAAAAAck/gSVevljIUUc/s640/funnyface.jpg
  15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu_Scorpii
  16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpius
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/reflection_nebulae.html
  18. https://www.astrobin.com/iky5d6/B/
  19. https://www.atnf.csiro.au/outreach/education/senior/astrophysics/binary_intro.html
  20. https://youtu.be/E6vPLKHINlU
  21. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar
  22. https://www.scigames.org/apps/webjigsaw2/index.php
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260406.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.com/feed.rss
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  32. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=260407
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260408.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://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  41. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  42. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  43. https://www.nasa.gov/
  44. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  45. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  46. http://www.mtu.edu/