                        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.

                               2024 January 23
    A very deep image of the night sky shows many stars and nebulas. Many
   bright nebulas appear to be connected by faint orange filaments. Please
             see the explanation for more detailed information.

                  Deep Nebulas: From Seagull to California
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Alistair Symon

   Explanation: How well do you know the night sky? OK, but how well can
   you identify famous sky objects in a very deep image? Either way, here
   is a test: see if you can find some well-known night-sky icons in a
   deep image filled with faint nebulosity. This image contains the
   Pleiades star cluster, Barnard's Loop, Horsehead Nebula, Orion Nebula,
   Rosette Nebula, Cone Nebula, Rigel, Jellyfish Nebula, Monkey Head
   Nebula, Flaming Star Nebula, Tadpole Nebula, Aldebaran, Simeis 147,
   Seagull Nebula and the California Nebula. To find their real locations,
   here is an annotated image version. The reason this task might be
   difficult is similar to the reason it is initially hard to identify
   familiar constellations in a very dark sky: the tapestry of our night
   sky has an extremely deep hidden complexity. The featured composite
   reveals some of this complexity in a mosaic of 28 images taken over 800
   hours from dark skies over Arizona, USA.

                      Tomorrow's picture: you are here
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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