May 14, 2025
The constellations may be old, but the person celebrating beneath them is gloriously new by cosmic standards.
NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula
Birthday · May 14, 2025
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APOD published May 14, 2025. Credit: Andrea Iorio, Vikas Chander & ShaRA Team. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
This pretty nebula lies some 1,500 light-years away, its shape and color in this telescopic view reminiscent of a robin's egg. The cosmic cloud spans about 3 light-years, nestled securely within the boundaries of the southern constellation of the Furnace (Fornax). Recognized as a planetary nebula, egg-shaped NGC 1360 doesn't represent a beginning, though. Instead, it corresponds to a brief and final phase in the evolution of an aging star. In fact, visible at the center of the nebula, the central star of NGC 1360 is known to be a binary star system likely consisting of two evolved white dwarf stars, less massive but much hotter than the Sun. Their intense and otherwise invisible ultraviolet radiation has stripped away electrons from the atoms in their mutually surrounding gaseous shroud. The blue-green hue inside of NGC 1360 seen here is the strong emission produced as electrons recombine with doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Celestial Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)
Image credit: Andrea Iorio, Vikas Chander & ShaRA Team