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. 2023 August 14 [2]An oval nebula is seen in false color. The nebula appears blue in the center, orange and red around the rim, and orange and purple filaments extending to the edge of the frame. Stars are seen throughout the frame. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. The Ring Nebula from Webb Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]CSA, [6]JWST; Processing: [7]Zi Yang Kong Explanation: The [8]Ring Nebula (M57), is more complicated than it appears through a small telescope. The easily visible [9]central ring is about one [10]light-year across, but this remarkable exposure by the [11]James Webb Space Telescope explores this popular nebula with a [12]deep exposure in [13]infrared light. Strings of gas, like eyelashes around a cosmic eye, [14]become evident around the Ring in this digitally enhanced featured image in assigned colors. These long filaments [15]may be caused by shadowing of knots of dense gas in the ring from energetic light emitted within. The Ring Nebula is an elongated [16]planetary nebula, a type of gas cloud created when a [17]Sun-like star evolves to [18]throw off its outer atmosphere to become a [19]white dwarf star. The central oval in the [20]Ring Nebula lies about 2,500 light-years away toward the musical [21]constellation Lyra. Tomorrow's picture: triple iced sky __________________________________________________________________ [22]< | [23]Archive | [24]Submissions | [25]Index | [26]Search | [27]Calendar | [28]RSS | [29]Education | [30]About APOD | [31]Discuss | [32]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [33]Robert Nemiroff ([34]MTU) & [35]Jerry Bonnell ([36]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [37]Specific rights apply. [38]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [39]ASD at [40]NASA / [41]GSFC, [42]NASA Science Activation & [43]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2308/M57_JwstKong_4532.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.esa.int/ 5. https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/ 6. https://webb.nasa.gov/ 7. mailto: johnsterkong at outlook dot com 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_nebula 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210815.html 10. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html 11. https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/index.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210818.html 13. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/07_infraredwaves 14. https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/image/ssc2005-07a-ring-beholds-a-delicate-flower 15. https://youtu.be/6FSIfUYFeTM?t=60s 16. https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/p/Planetary+Nebulae 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230611.html 18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FSIfUYFeTM 19. https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/dwarfs2.html 20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiYRL3HFULU 21. http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/lyr/index.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230813.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 31. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230814 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230815.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 36. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 38. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 39. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 42. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 43. http://www.mtu.edu/