                        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 February 27
   A large filamentary nebula is shown dominated by red glow but with bits
     of blue on the lower left. The nebula is shown in a dense starfield
        surrounded by other faint red-glowing nebulae. Please see the
                 explanation for more detailed information.

                        Supernova Remnant Simeis 147
          Image Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Vetter (Nuits sacrées)

   Explanation: It's easy to get lost following the intricate, looping,
   and twisting filaments of supernova remnant Simeis 147. Also cataloged
   as Sharpless 2-240, the filamentary nebula goes by the popular nickname
   the Spaghetti Nebula. Seen toward the boundary of the constellations of
   the Bull (Taurus) and the Charioteer (Auriga), the impressive gas
   structure covers nearly 3 degrees on the sky, equivalent to 6 full
   moons. That's about 150 light-years at the stellar debris cloud's
   estimated distance of 3,000 light-years. This composite image includes
   data taken through narrow-band filters isolating emission from hydrogen
   (red) and oxygen (blue) glowing gas. The supernova remnant has an
   estimated age of about 40,000 years, meaning light from this massive
   stellar explosion first reached the Earth when woolly mammoths roamed
   free. Besides the expanding remnant, this cosmic catastrophe left
   behind a pulsar: a spinning neutron star that is the remnant of the
   original star's core.

                     Tomorrow's picture: how night falls
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn; Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

