                        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 December 12
   The featured image shows an interstellar gas globule that looks like a
     monster superposed against a glowing red background. Please see the
                 explanation for more detailed information.

                        An Unusual Globule in IC 1396
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Bernard Miller

   Explanation: Is there a monster in IC 1396? Known to some as the
   Elephant's Trunk Nebula, parts of gas and dust clouds of this star
   formation region may appear to take on foreboding forms, some nearly
   human. The only real monster here, however, is a bright young star too
   far from Earth to hurt us. Energetic light from this star is eating
   away the dust of the dark cometary globule near the top of the featured
   image. Jets and winds of particles emitted from this star are also
   pushing away ambient gas and dust. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant,
   the relatively faint IC 1396 complex covers a much larger region on the
   sky than shown here, with an apparent width of more than 10 full moons.

                       Tomorrow's picture: art and sky
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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