NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 20 April 2023: The Dark Seahorse Nebula | Tech News

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 20 April 2023: The Dark Seahorse Nebula

Today’s NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is Barnard 150, also known as the Dark Seahorse nebula.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: Apr 20 2023, 12:04 IST
Best NASA Astronomy Pictures of the Week: Polaris, Running Chicken Nebula and more
Dark Seahorse nebula
1/5 Running Chicken Nebula (April 10) - It is a snapshot of IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula. According to NASA, it is located about 6,000 light years away towards the constellation of the Centaur and spans almost 100 light-years across. The nebula's strange nickname, Running Chicken, comes from the chicken-like shape of its brightest region, which resembles a running bird. (NASA/Daniel Stern)
Dark Seahorse nebula
2/5 Polaris, the North Star (April 11) - It is a fascinating image of Polaris and the dust that surrounds it. Although there are 200 billion trillion stars in the sky, Polaris is particularly special because it can help orient yourself as it is located in the direction of the true north. It is also known as the North Star or Pole Star and is present in the constellation of Ursa Minor. (NASA/Javier Zayaz)
Dark Seahorse nebula
3/5 Star cloud in the Andromeda Galaxy (April 12) - This captured image shows the star cloud NGC 206 in the Andromeda Galaxy. It is the brightest star cloud in the galaxy as seen from Earth. Also known as Messier 31, it is a spiral galaxy located approximately 2.5 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. According to NASA, the Andromeda Galaxy is twice the size of our own Milky Way galaxy, spanning across nearly 260,000 light-years and containing over 1 trillion stars. (NASA/Howard Trottier)
Dark Seahorse nebula
4/5 Globular star cluster NGC 2419 (April 13) - It is the globular star cluster NGC 2419. It is a multi-generational star cluster located about 300,000 light-years away towards the constellation of Lynx. According to NASA, the stars populating globular clusters are very similar because they formed at roughly the same time and because of this, they tend to display similar properties. (NASA/ESA/Hubble)
Dark Seahorse nebula
5/5 Fascinating Hamburger Galaxy (April 14) - It is a fascinating snapshot of NGC 3628, also known as the Hamburger Galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy located about 35 million light-years away towards the constellation of Leo and spans about 100,000 light-years. According to NASA, NGC 3628 shares its neighborhood in the local Universe with two other large spirals M65 and M66 in a grouping otherwise known as the Leo Triplet. (NASA/Mike Selby/Mark Hanson)
Dark Seahorse nebula
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The Dark Seahorse nebula is located about 1200 light-years away towards the constellation of Cepheus. (NASA/Jeff Herman)

Some nebulae are irregularly shaped, so much so that they resemble objects on Earth. Some of the most peculiar shapes include the Headphone nebula, the Heart and Soul nebula and the Flying Ghost nebula. For the unacquainted, a nebula is a star forming region located in Interstellar space, which is the space between stars. It consists of gases, mainly hydrogen and helium. According to NASA, a Nebula can contain as few as ten stars or as many as millions of stars.

Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is Barnard 150, also known as the Dark Seahorse nebula. It is one of the most peculiarly shaped nebulae, located about 1200 light-years away towards the constellation of Cepheus. It is a dark molecular cloud and is so dense that the dust within blocks visible wavelengths of light. Telescopes that see visible light only detect ghostly dark patches in the sky, called Dark Nebulae.

Barnard 150 is named after astronomer Edward E. Barnard who also catalogued 182 other celestial objects in our Milky Way Galaxy.

Tech used to capture the picture

The picture was captured by astrophotographer Jeff Herman from Tierra Del Sol, California. Herman used an Alta U16M CCD camera mounted on Paramount MX+. Moreover, a Takahashi TOA-130 refractor was also used.

NASA's description of the picture

Spanning light-years, this suggestive shape known as the Seahorse Nebula appears in silhouette against a rich, luminous background of stars. Seen toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus, the dusty, obscuring clouds are part of a Milky Way molecular cloud some 1,200 light-years distant. It is also listed as Barnard 150 (B150), one of 182 dark markings of the sky cataloged in the early 20th century by astronomer E. E. Barnard. Packs of low mass stars are forming within, but their collapsing cores are only visible at long infrared wavelengths. Still, the colorful stars of Cepheus add to this pretty, galactic skyscape.

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First Published Date: 20 Apr, 12:03 IST
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