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.

                               2022 October 19
    [2]The featured image shows distant spiral galaxy NGC 7497 in a field
    of foreground stars, gas, and dust. The foreground gas and dust is in
     our own Milky Way galaxy and so well in front of the galaxy -- but
     appears to go right through it. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                      A Galaxy Beyond Stars, Gas, Dust
      Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Howard Trottier; Text: [4]Emily Rice

   Explanation: Do we dare believe our eyes? When we look at images of
   space, we often wonder whether they are "real", and just as often the
   best answer varies. In this case, the scene appears much as our eyes
   would see it, because it was obtained using [5]RGB (Red, Green, Blue)
   filters like the [6]cone cells in our eyes, except collecting light for
   19 hours, not a fraction of a second. The [7]featured image was
   captured over six nights, using a [8]24-inch diameter telescope [9]in
   the [10]Sierra Nevada Mountains, in [11]California, [12]USA. The bright
   [13]spiral galaxy at the center (NGC 7497) looks like it is being
   grasped by an eerie tendril of a [14]space ghost, and therein lies the
   trick. The galaxy is actually 59 million [15]light years away, while
   the nebulosity is MBM 54, less than one thousand light years away,
   making it [16]one of the nearest cool clouds of gas and dust --
   [17]galactic cirrus -- within our own [18]Milky Way Galaxy. Both are in
   the constellation of [19]Pegasus, which [20]can be seen high overhead
   from northern latitudes in the autumn.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [32]Robert Nemiroff ([33]MTU) & [34]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([35]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [36]Specific rights apply.
              [37]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [38]ASD at [39]NASA / [40]GSFC,
                         [41]NASA Science Activation
                           & [42]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2210/Ngc7497Cirrus_Trottier_2976.jpg
   3. https://www.astrobin.com/users/htrottier/
   4. https://macaulay.cuny.edu/directory/emily-rice/
   5. https://www.peterzelinka.com/blog/2020/2/a-guide-to-astrophotography-filters
   6. https://www.aao.org/eye-health/anatomy/cones
   7. https://www.astrobin.com/536qqv/
   8. https://cosmicpursuits.com/943/telescopes-explained/
   9. https://www.sierra-remote.com/
  10. https://youtu.be/udqzLBbY2wg
  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California
  12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
  13. https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/S/spiral+galaxy
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201026.html
  15. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/
  16. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1989ApJ...346..232W/abstract
  17. https://www.cosmotography.com/images/galactic_cirrus.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220817.html
  19. https://www.iau.org/public/images/detail/peg/
  20. https://skymaps.com/skymaps/tesmn2210.pdf
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221018.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  30. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=221019
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221020.html
  32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  34. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  35. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  37. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  38. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  39. https://www.nasa.gov/
  40. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  41. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  42. http://www.mtu.edu/