Starship Asterisk*

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091201.html

Apparently not being quite as serious a reader as the exemplar depicted in the link in the caption to the Veil Nebula APOD, I have not been able to identify the filaments in the lower left of the image. Can anyone please help? If so, I might be persuaded to give him/her some nice fish by way of a reward.

My guess would be either the red filaments, a part of the outer shockwave, to the lower left of this APOD. Or, more likely, this APOD is a part of the filaments in the lower left of the APOD of the complete Veil Nebula.

smitty wrote:I have not been able to identify the filaments in the lower left of the image. Can anyone please help?

There is a red streamer & a star that point to the text word "Milky Way" at:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091201.html

Now, place a piece of paper along the right hand vertical line of the M in "Milky Way" at:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap051206.html
and it will pass very near the very same red streamer & star.

Many thanks for the helpful replies!

Hi, I'm new here

I had a question about today's POD I was hoping someone might be able to answer for me.
You can see this more clearly in the enlarged version of the image, but in the upper right portion of the image there is a red ring around a bright orange star. What is this and is it part of the nebula, or is it further to the foreground or background? Thanks!

Hi jackbunny,
Welcome to the APOD discussion forum! Sorry no one has gotten back to you sooner. Usually the more experienced "old hands" here (of whom I'm personally not really one, yet) typically reply to questions such as yours (and mine) on a timely basis. The reason I hadn't replied sooner is because I don't know the answer to your question. Hopefully somebody else will. This forum is a wonderful resource for learning more about astronomy. Enjoy!

jackbunny wrote:Hi, I'm new here

I had a question about today's POD I was hoping someone might be able to answer for me.
You can see this more clearly in the enlarged version of the image, but in the upper right portion of the image there is a red ring around a bright orange star. What is this and is it part of the nebula, or is it further to the foreground or background? Thanks!

It appears to be a bright star within the Veil nebula and is lighting up it's local area but its distance is unknown:

• http://server1.wikisky.org/starview?obj ... _id=650435
  
  Catalogs and designations:
  TYCHO-2 2000 TYC 2688-1037-1
  USNO-A2.0 USNO-A2 1200-16512236
  
  Constellation: Cygnus
  Right ascension: 20h56m00.94s
  Declination: +31°31'29.7"
  Apparent magnitude: 11.585
  Proper motion RA: 2.8
  Proper motion Dec: -5.2
  B-T magnitude: 13.566
  V-T magnitude: 11.749