May 3, 2009
In the grand ledger of cosmic time, a human life is breathtakingly brief. But brevity is not insignificance.
NGC 2392 Nebula from Hubble
Birthday · May 3, 2009
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APOD published May 3, 2009. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
In 1787, astronomer William Herschel discovered NGC 2392. From the ground, NGC 2392 resembles a person's head surrounded by a parka hood. In 2000, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged NGC 2392. From space, the nebula displays gas clouds so complex they are not fully understood. NGC 2392 is clearly a planetary nebula, and the gas seen above composed the outer layers of a Sun-like star only 10,000 years ago. The inner filaments visible above are being ejected by strong wind of particles from the central star. The outer disk contains unusual light-year long orange filaments. The NGC 2392 Nebula spans about 1/3 of a light year and lies in our Milky Way Galaxy, about 3,000 light years distant, toward the constellation of the Twins (Gemini).