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Birthday · October 8, 2025

NGC 7380: The Wizard Nebula

October 8, 2025

The night sky on your birthday is never quite the same twice — the planets shift, the constellations drift, the Moon wears a different phase.

NGC 7380: The Wizard Nebula

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APOD published October 8, 2025. Credit: Nevenka Blagovic Horvat & Miroslav Horvat. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

Behind the image

NGC 7380: The Wizard Nebula

Original APOD · October 8, 2025

What powers are being wielded in the Wizard Nebula? Gravitation strong enough to form stars, and stellar winds and radiations powerful enough to create and dissolve towers of gas. Located only 8,000 light years away, the Wizard nebula, featured here, surrounds a developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer. The active star forming region spans about 100 light years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be located with a small telescope toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus). Although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.

Image credit: Nevenka Blagovic Horvat & Miroslav Horvat

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