Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2021 April 17
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                           Inside the Flame Nebula
   Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]JPL-Caltech, [5]IPAC Infrared Science Archive
                         - Processing: [6]Amal Biju

   Explanation: [7]The Flame Nebula is a stand out in optical images of
   the dusty, crowded star forming regions [8]toward Orion's belt and the
   easternmost belt star Alnitak, a mere 1,400 light-years away. Alnitak
   is the bright star at the right edge of this infrared image [9]from the
   Spitzer Space Telescope. About 15 light-years across, the infrared view
   takes you inside the nebula's glowing gas and obscuring dust clouds
   though. It reveals many stars of the recently formed, embedded cluster
   NGC 2024 concentrated near the center. The stars of NGC 2024 range in
   age from 200,000 years to 1.5 million years young. In fact, data
   indicate that the youngest stars are concentrated near the middle of
   the Flame Nebula cluster. That's the opposite of the simplest models of
   star formation for a stellar nursery that predict [10]star formation
   begins in the denser center of a molecular cloud core. [11]The result
   requires a more complex model for star formation [12]inside the Flame
   Nebula.

                     Tomorrow's picture: airglow rainbow
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    Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([27]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply.
              [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC
                           & [33]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2104/FlamenebulaIR.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/
   5. https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/Missions/spitzer.html
   6. https://www.instagram.com/exploraspace
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210412.html
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131212.html
   9. https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/image/sig14-031a-the-flame-nebula
  10. http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/how-do-stars-form-and-evolve/
  11. http://arxiv.org/abs/1403.2741
  12. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/flame-nebula.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210416.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210417
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210418.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  33. http://www.mtu.edu/