November 2, 1995
Even the most precise clock in the world cannot measure how unlikely your existence really is.
The Red Rectangle
Birthday · November 2, 1995
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published November 2, 1995. Credit: Anglo-Australian Telescope Board. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
The unusual geometry of this stellar nebula creates somewhat of a mystery. At the nebula's center is a young binary star system that probably created the nebula, but how? This type of nebula shows a "bipolar flow" which carries a significant amount of mass away from the central stars. It has been speculated that the central stars create a pair of jets that precess like a spinning top. These jets might throw gas into a thick disk which we see here edge on - so that it appears to us as a rectangle. The nebula emission is also unusual in that some of the infrared light it emits might be associated with unusual carbon-containing molecules.
Image credit: Anglo-Australian Telescope Board