APOD: IC 443: The Jellyfish Nebula (2023 Dec 26)

[APOD Robot]

IC 443: The Jellyfish Nebula

Explanation: Why is this jellyfish swimming in a sea of stars? Drifting near bright star Eta Geminorum, seen at the right, the Jellyfish Nebula extends its tentacles from the bright arcing ridge of emission left of center. In fact, the cosmic jellyfish is part of bubble-shaped supernova remnant IC 443, the expanding debris cloud from a massive star that exploded. Light from the explosion first reached planet Earth over 30,000 years ago. Like its cousin in astronomical waters, the Crab Nebula supernova remnant IC 443 is known to harbor a neutron star -- the remnant of the collapsed stellar core. The Jellyfish Nebula is about 5,000 light-years away. At that distance, the featured image would span about 140 light-years across.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[johnnydeep]

Granted, it's the day after Christmas, but where has everyone gone?

[Ann]

Granted, it's the day after Christmas, but where has everyone gone?

I'm very sad to say that Orin Stepanek seems to be gone. He used to post faithfully on every APOD, but he hasn't been heard from since December 2. I made a thread for him in the Open Space forum, which unfortunately got very little traffic.

As for myself, I comment much more rarely than I used to, because nowadays the APODs focus on cosmic phenomena that don't interest me all that much. I love galaxies, and I'm very happy to see other galaxies than the Milky Way, and I like blue star clusters (obviously). I also love stunningly beautiful and colorful RGB images in general. Well, the only galaxy images that have been featured recently are the ones from December 21, December 01, November 22, November 13, November 10 and November 02. And the only recent blue cluster APOD was the one from December 09. As for beautiful colorful images, the loveliest picture I have seen at Starship Asterisk* was this one by Robert G. Lyons/Telescope Live:

I have, of course, commented on these APODs and a few others, but I haven't commented as much as I used to.

I hope that the rest of you, those of you who love the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, asteroids, auroras, closeups of meteorites, Hubble palette nebulas, JWST weird color galaxy cluster images and pictures of spacecraft, take it upon yourselves to comment on these images! Please?

Ann

[Chris Peterson]

Granted, it's the day after Christmas, but where has everyone gone?

I'm very sad to say that Orin Stepanek seems to be gone. He used to post faithfully on every APOD, but he hasn't been heard from since December 2. I made a thread for him in the Open Space forum, which unfortunately got very little traffic.

I've posted separately on that thread. Sorry to report that Orin died last week.

[johnnydeep]

Granted, it's the day after Christmas, but where has everyone gone?

I'm very sad to say that Orin Stepanek seems to be gone. He used to post faithfully on every APOD, but he hasn't been heard from since December 2. I made a thread for him in the Open Space forum, which unfortunately got very little traffic.

As for myself, I comment much more rarely than I used to, because nowadays the APODs focus on cosmic phenomena that don't interest me all that much. I love galaxies, and I'm very happy to see other galaxies than the Milky Way, and I like blue star clusters (obviously). I also love stunningly beautiful and colorful RGB images in general. Well, the only galaxy images that have been featured recently are the ones from December 21, December 01, November 22, November 13, November 10 and November 02. And the only recent blue cluster APOD was the one from December 09. As for beautiful colorful images, the loveliest picture I have seen at Starship Asterisk* was this one by Robert G. Lyons/Telescope Live:


Christmas Tree Cluster Cone Nebula and Fox Fur Nebula Robert G Lyons Telescope Live.png


I have, of course, commented on these APODs and a few others, but I haven't commented as much as I used to.

I hope that the rest of you, those of you who love the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, asteroids, auroras, closeups of meteorites, Hubble palette nebulas, JWST weird color galaxy cluster images and pictures of spacecraft, take it upon yourselves to comment on these images! Please?

Ann

Thanks for the update. But this begs the question: WHY has there been such a dramatic shift in the types of images posted here? I too - and I suspect many others - would love to see a return to the days of frequent deep sky object posts, namely, galaxies, clusters, etc.!

[johnnydeep]

Granted, it's the day after Christmas, but where has everyone gone?

I'm very sad to say that Orin Stepanek seems to be gone. He used to post faithfully on every APOD, but he hasn't been heard from since December 2. I made a thread for him in the Open Space forum, which unfortunately got very little traffic.

I've posted separately on that thread. Sorry to report that Orin died last week.

Very sorry to hear that. Did you know Orin well?

[Chris Peterson]

I'm very sad to say that Orin Stepanek seems to be gone. He used to post faithfully on every APOD, but he hasn't been heard from since December 2. I made a thread for him in the Open Space forum, which unfortunately got very little traffic.

I've posted separately on that thread. Sorry to report that Orin died last week.

Very sorry to hear that. Did you know Orin well?

Only in the slightly peculiar but very modern way that we know so many people these days, as an online presence.

[johnnydeep]

I've posted separately on that thread. Sorry to report that Orin died last week.

Very sorry to hear that. Did you know Orin well?

Only in the slightly peculiar but very modern way that we know so many people these days, as an online presence.

As you all know me I suppose. But if I died, no one here would be any the wiser, except perhaps to notice that I hadn't posted in while.

How did you come to know of Orin's passing?

[Chris Peterson]

Very sorry to hear that. Did you know Orin well?

Only in the slightly peculiar but very modern way that we know so many people these days, as an online presence.

As you all know me I suppose. But if I died, no one here would be any the wiser, except perhaps to notice that I hadn't posted in while.

How did you come to know of Orin's passing?

By googling his name after Ann pointed out his extended absence here. It is, of course, helpful when people's handle is their actual name.

[johnnydeep]

Only in the slightly peculiar but very modern way that we know so many people these days, as an online presence.

As you all know me I suppose. But if I died, no one here would be any the wiser, except perhaps to notice that I hadn't posted in while.

How did you come to know of Orin's passing?

By googling his name after Ann pointed out his extended absence here. It is, of course, helpful when people's handle is their actual name.

Ah. In contrast, I think it would be difficult to discover my real-life identity.

[Ann]

Granted, it's the day after Christmas, but where has everyone gone?

I'm very sad to say that Orin Stepanek seems to be gone. He used to post faithfully on every APOD, but he hasn't been heard from since December 2. I made a thread for him in the Open Space forum, which unfortunately got very little traffic.

As for myself, I comment much more rarely than I used to, because nowadays the APODs focus on cosmic phenomena that don't interest me all that much. I love galaxies, and I'm very happy to see other galaxies than the Milky Way, and I like blue star clusters (obviously). I also love stunningly beautiful and colorful RGB images in general. Well, the only galaxy images that have been featured recently are the ones from December 21, December 01, November 22, November 13, November 10 and November 02. And the only recent blue cluster APOD was the one from December 09. As for beautiful colorful images, the loveliest picture I have seen at Starship Asterisk* was this one by Robert G. Lyons/Telescope Live:


Christmas Tree Cluster Cone Nebula and Fox Fur Nebula Robert G Lyons Telescope Live.png


I have, of course, commented on these APODs and a few others, but I haven't commented as much as I used to.

I hope that the rest of you, those of you who love the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, asteroids, auroras, closeups of meteorites, Hubble palette nebulas, JWST weird color galaxy cluster images and pictures of spacecraft, take it upon yourselves to comment on these images! Please?

Ann

Thanks for the update. But this begs the question: WHY has there been such a dramatic shift in the types of images posted here? I too - and I suspect many others - would love to see a return to the days of frequent deep sky object posts, namely, galaxies, clusters, etc.!

I would love to see more APODs featuring galaxies, of course, and I have a suggestion. Mark Hanson has made a lot of great galaxy images, and I would love to see some of them here. How about nearby NGC 253, the Sculptor Galaxy, with a lot of extra hydrogen alpha?

Or why not simply more Hubble images of galaxies? They are almost always fascinating. I could talk at some lengths about Arp-Madore 2105-332, an image that was released on December 11, 2023.

Ann

[johnnydeep]

I'm very sad to say that Orin Stepanek seems to be gone. He used to post faithfully on every APOD, but he hasn't been heard from since December 2. I made a thread for him in the Open Space forum, which unfortunately got very little traffic.

As for myself, I comment much more rarely than I used to, because nowadays the APODs focus on cosmic phenomena that don't interest me all that much. I love galaxies, and I'm very happy to see other galaxies than the Milky Way, and I like blue star clusters (obviously). I also love stunningly beautiful and colorful RGB images in general. Well, the only galaxy images that have been featured recently are the ones from December 21, December 01, November 22, November 13, November 10 and November 02. And the only recent blue cluster APOD was the one from December 09. As for beautiful colorful images, the loveliest picture I have seen at Starship Asterisk* was this one by Robert G. Lyons/Telescope Live:


Christmas Tree Cluster Cone Nebula and Fox Fur Nebula Robert G Lyons Telescope Live.png


I have, of course, commented on these APODs and a few others, but I haven't commented as much as I used to.

I hope that the rest of you, those of you who love the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, asteroids, auroras, closeups of meteorites, Hubble palette nebulas, JWST weird color galaxy cluster images and pictures of spacecraft, take it upon yourselves to comment on these images! Please?

Ann

Thanks for the update. But this begs the question: WHY has there been such a dramatic shift in the types of images posted here? I too - and I suspect many others - would love to see a return to the days of frequent deep sky object posts, namely, galaxies, clusters, etc.!

I would love to see more APODs featuring galaxies, of course, and I have a suggestion. Mark Hanson has made a lot of great galaxy images, and I would love to see some of them here. How about nearby NGC 253, the Sculptor Galaxy, with a lot of extra hydrogen alpha?

Or why not simply more Hubble images of galaxies? They are almost always fascinating. I could talk at some lengths about Arp-Madore 2105-332, an image that was released on December 11, 2023.

Ann

Capital suggestions all! I'd even settle for the Hubble Picture Of The Week, which is currently this one: https://esahubble.org/images/potw2343a/

[Ann]

Thanks for the update. But this begs the question: WHY has there been such a dramatic shift in the types of images posted here? I too - and I suspect many others - would love to see a return to the days of frequent deep sky object posts, namely, galaxies, clusters, etc.!

I would love to see more APODs featuring galaxies, of course, and I have a suggestion. Mark Hanson has made a lot of great galaxy images, and I would love to see some of them here. How about nearby NGC 253, the Sculptor Galaxy, with a lot of extra hydrogen alpha?

Or why not simply more Hubble images of galaxies? They are almost always fascinating. I could talk at some lengths about Arp-Madore 2105-332, an image that was released on December 11, 2023.

Ann

Capital suggestions all! I'd even settle for the Hubble Picture Of The Week, which is currently this one: https://esahubble.org/images/potw2343a/

The Hubble image of the week is actually this one. And it is superb!

Ann

[johnnydeep]

I would love to see more APODs featuring galaxies, of course, and I have a suggestion. Mark Hanson has made a lot of great galaxy images, and I would love to see some of them here. How about nearby NGC 253, the Sculptor Galaxy, with a lot of extra hydrogen alpha?

Or why not simply more Hubble images of galaxies? They are almost always fascinating. I could talk at some lengths about Arp-Madore 2105-332, an image that was released on December 11, 2023.

Ann

Capital suggestions all! I'd even settle for the Hubble Picture Of The Week, which is currently this one: https://esahubble.org/images/potw2343a/

The Hubble image of the week is actually this one. And it is superb!

Ann

Indeed. A chimerical congeries reified and revealed!