January 11, 2006
The stars above are ancient, but your chance to be here is exquisitely temporary.
The Tadpoles of IC 410
Birthday · January 11, 2006
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APOD published January 11, 2006. Credit: Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Observatory). A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
This close-up view shows a portion of otherwise faint emission nebula IC 410 in striking false-colors. It also shows two remarkable denizens of the glowing gas cloud at the right - the "tadpoles" of IC 410. The picture is a composite of images taken through narrow band filters intended to trace atoms in the nebula. Emission from sulfur atoms is shown in red, hydrogen atoms in green, and oxygen in blue. Partly obscured by foreground dust, the nebula itself surrounds NGC 1893, a young galactic cluster of stars that energizes the glowing gas. Composed of denser, cooler gas and dust, the tadpoles are around 10 light-years long. Sculpted by wind and radiation from the cluster stars, their tails trail away from the cluster's central region. IC 410 lies some 12,000 light-years away, toward the constellation Auriga. At that distance, this image spans about 70 light-years.
Image credit: Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Observatory)