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Credit & Copyright: Anis Abdul
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.
APOD Retrospective:
August 2
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: IC 1396 - star formation - globule
Publications with words: IC 1396 - star formation - globule
See also: