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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.   
      
                                 2022 December 26   
        The featured image shows a star inside a symmetric but complex and   
       multi-colored nebula which is all surrounded by a faint blue nebula.   
             Please see the explanation for more detailed information.   
      
                      NGC 6164: Dragon's Egg Nebula and Halo   
                     Image Credit & Copyright: Russell Croman   
      
      Explanation: The star at the center created everything. Known as the   
      Dragon's Egg, this star -- a rare, hot, luminous O-type star some 40   
      times as massive as the Sun -- created not only the complex nebula (NGC   
      6164) that immediately surrounds it, but also the encompassing blue   
      halo. Its name is derived, in part, from the region's proximity to the   
      picturesque NGC 6188, known as the fighting Dragons of Ara. In another   
      three to four million years the massive star will likely end its life   
      in a supernova explosion. Spanning around 4 light-years, the nebula   
      itself has a bipolar symmetry making it similar in appearance to more   
      common planetary nebulae - the gaseous shrouds surrounding dying   
      sun-like stars. Also like many planetary nebulae, NGC 6164 has been   
      found to have an extensive, faint halo, revealed in blue in this deep   
      telescopic image of the region. Expanding into the surrounding   
      interstellar medium, the material in the blue halo was likely expelled   
      from an earlier active phase of the O-star. NGC 6164 lies 4,200   
      light-years away in the southern constellation of the Carpenter's   
      Square (Norma).   
      
                      Tomorrow's picture: all the way around   
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          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
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