August 7, 2020
Somewhere between the hydrogen and the starlight, between the gravity and the grace, the universe conspired to bring you into being.
The Pipe Nebula
Birthday · August 7, 2020
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APOD published August 7, 2020. Credit: Jose Mtanous. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
st of Antares, dark markings sprawl through crowded star fields toward the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Cataloged in the early 20th century by astronomer E. E. Barnard, the obscuring interstellar dust clouds include B59, B72, B77 and B78, seen in against the starry background. Here, their combined shape suggests a pipe stem and bowl, and so the dark nebula's popular name is the Pipe Nebula. The deep and expansive view covers a full 10 by 10 degree field in the pronounceable constellation Ophiuchus. The Pipe Nebula is part of the Ophiuchus dark cloud complex located at a distance of about 450 light-years. Dense cores of gas and dust within the Pipe Nebula are collapsing to form stars.
Image credit: Jose Mtanous