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 May 6
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                             Windblown NGC 3199
     Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Mike Selby and [5]Roberto Colombari

   Explanation: NGC 3199 lies about 12,000 light-years away, a glowing
   cosmic cloud in the nautical southern constellation [6]of Carina. The
   nebula is about 75 light-years across in this [7]narrowband,
   false-color view. Though the deep image reveals a more or less complete
   bubble shape, it does look very lopsided with a much brighter edge
   along the top. Near the center is a [8]Wolf-Rayet star, a massive, hot,
   short-lived star that generates an intense stellar wind. In fact,
   Wolf-Rayet stars are known to create nebulae with [9]interesting shapes
   as their powerful winds sweep up surrounding [10]interstellar material.
   In this case, the bright edge was thought to indicate a [11]bow shock
   produced as the star plowed through a uniform medium, like a boat
   through water. But [12]measurements have shown the star is not really
   moving directly toward the bright edge. So a more likely explanation is
   that the material surrounding the star is not uniform, but clumped and
   denser near the bright edge of windblown NGC 3199.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([27]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply.
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                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/2105/ColombariNGC3199.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.facebook.com/masterdarksastro/
   5. https://www.facebook.com/roberto.colombari
   6. http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/car/index.html
   7. https://www.astrobin.com/vq5ztr/
   8. https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/a-wolf-rayet-bubble-and-the-early-solar-system/
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200612.html
  10. http://www-ssg.sr.unh.edu/ism/what1.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200202.html
  12. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001ApJ...563..875M/abstract
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210505.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=210506
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210507.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/