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                           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.   
      
                                  2025 January 31   
      
                           The Variable Nebula NGC 2261   
        Image Credit & Copyright: Tommy Lease (Denver Astronomical Society)   
      
      Explanation: The interstellar cloud of dust and gas captured in this   
      sharp telescopic snapshot is seen to change its appearance noticeably   
      over periods as short as a few weeks. Discovered over 200 years ago and   
      cataloged as NGC 2261, bright star R Monocerotis lies at the tip of the   
      fan-shaped nebula. About one light-year across and 2500 light-years   
      away, NGC 2261 was studied early last century by astronomer Edwin   
      Hubble and the mysterious cosmic cloud is now more famous as Hubble's   
      Variable Nebula. So what makes Hubble's nebula vary? NGC 2261 is   
      composed of a dusty reflection nebula fanning out from the star R   
      Monocerotis. The leading variability explanation holds that dense knots   
      of obscuring dust pass close to R Mon and cast moving shadows across   
      the dust clouds in the rest of Hubble's Variable Nebula.   
      
                         Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend   
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