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Astronomy Image of the Day

NGC 7841: The Smoke Nebula in Frustriaus

01 November 2013

Göran Strand

NASA Astronomy Image of the Day for 01 November 2013

NGC 7841 is probably known as the Smoke Nebula, found in the modern constellation of Frustriaus, the frustrated astrophotographer. Only a few light-nanoseconds from planet Earth, The Smoke Nebula is not an expanding supernova remnant along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, though it does look a lot like one. Instead it was created by flash photography of rising smoke. The apparently rich starfield is actually composed of water droplets sprayed from a plant mister by an astrophotographer grown restless during a recent stretch of cloudy weather in Sweden. A single exposure and three external flashes were triggered to capture the not-quite-cosmic snapshot.

Image and explanation courtesy of NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

NGC 7841: The Smoke Nebula in Frustriaus | APOD | AstroDelta