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.

                                2020 March 10
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

              Wide Field: Fox Fur, Unicorn, and Christmas Tree
                  Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Greg Gurdak

   Explanation: What do the following things have in common: a cone, the
   fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the
   constellation of the unicorn ([4]Monoceros). Pictured as a star forming
   region and [5]cataloged as NGC 2264, the complex jumble of cosmic gas
   and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant and mixes reddish
   [6]emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars
   [7]with dark interstellar dust clouds. Where the otherwise obscuring
   dust clouds lie close to the hot, young stars they also reflect
   starlight, forming blue [8]reflection nebulae. The featured wide-field
   image spans over three times the diameter of a [9]full moon, covering
   over 100 [10]light-years at the distance of NGC 2264. Its cast of
   cosmic characters includes the [11]Fox Fur Nebula, whose convoluted
   pelt lies just to the lower right of the image center, bright
   [12]variable star [13]S Mon visible just above the Fox Fur, and the
   [14]Cone Nebula just to the left. Given their distribution, the stars
   of NGC 2264 are also known as the [15]Christmas Tree star cluster.

                      Tomorrow's picture: extreme boom
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [27]Robert Nemiroff ([28]MTU) & [29]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([30]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [31]Specific rights apply.
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                A service of: [33]ASD at [34]NASA / [35]GSFC
                           & [36]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2003/ConeTreeWide_Gurdak_3883.jpg
   3. mailto: gamma471 at gmail dot com
   4. http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/mon/index.html
   5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_2264
   6. http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/emission_nebulae.html
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080508.html
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081031.html
   9. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/676/phases-of-the-moon/
  10. http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/Numbers/Math/Mathematical_Thinking/how_long_is_a_light_year.htm
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080422.html
  12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXJBrRmHPj8
  13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_Monocerotis
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140528.html
  15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Tree_Cluster
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200309.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  20. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  25. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200310
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200311.html
  27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  30. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  33. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  34. https://www.nasa.gov/
  35. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  36. http://www.mtu.edu/