APOD: NGC 3572 and the Southern Tadpoles (2022 May 06)

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APOD: NGC 3572 and the Southern Tadpoles (2022 May 06)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri May 06, 2022 4:05 am

Image NGC 3572 and the Southern Tadpoles

Explanation: This cosmic skyscape features glowing gas and dark dust clouds along side the young stars of NGC 3572. A beautiful emission nebula and star cluster it sails far southern skies within the nautical constellation Carina. Stars from NGC 3572 are toward top center in the telescopic frame that would measure about 100 light-years across at the cluster's estimated distance of 9,000 light-years. The visible interstellar gas and dust is part of the star cluster's natal molecular cloud. Dense streamers of material within the nebula, eroded by stellar winds and radiation, clearly trail away from the energetic young stars. They are likely sites of ongoing star formation with shapes reminiscent of the Tadpoles of IC 410 better known to northern skygazers. In the coming tens to hundreds of millions of years, gas and stars in the cluster will be dispersed though, by gravitational tides and by violent supernova explosions that end the short lives of the massive cluster stars.

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Ann
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Re: APOD: NGC 3572 and the Southern Tadpoles (2022 May 06)

Post by Ann » Fri May 06, 2022 5:23 am

A part of NGC 3572 Drudis.png
The tadpoles of NGC 3572. Image: Josep M. Drudis.

Carlos Taylor's portrait of NGC 3572 shows us a large almost circular nebular mass with what looks like a cavity in the center, and something, maybe an animal, appears to be coming out of that cavity. Two big jet-like extensions of the nebula are seen at upper right. The picture is interesting, and it's a fine portrait, but the tadpoles of NGC 3572 are not allowed to shine.

(Okay... so... maybe that "bear" 🐻 coming out of the "cave" is actually the base of one of the tadpoles?)

I prefer Josep M. Drudis' portrait of the tadpoles. His picture was an APOD on November 8, 2019. Go here to see it, and to see a larger version of his picture, too.


Red blob in NGC 3572 Drudis.png
P.S. Oh, and if you are all that interested, you may note a free-floating red blob at upper left in Josep Drudis' image. There is a paper from 2003, published in Astronomical Society of the Pacific, on this nebula. It's gritty reading, if you ask me, but the conclusion of the authors is that the object is probably not a planetary nebula but a photoevaporating globule - a blob of gas that is a remnant from the nebula that gave rise to the cluster - which is being ionized not from within but by the hot O8-type star of the cluster of NGC 3572. They even seem to suggest that there might be a T Tauri star, a baby star that is not yet fully formed, inside the red blob. (But maybe I didn't get them right there, because they were unable to detect the very faint central star that Josep Drudis has revealed to us.)

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Re: APOD: NGC 3572 and the Southern Tadpoles (2022 May 06)

Post by JohnD » Fri May 06, 2022 9:09 am

It's a complete coincidence (I think), but the Other Picture Of The Day, the Earth Science PoD, has this image:
Devil's fingers fungus.jpg
It is a "Devil's Fingers" fungus!
Last edited by JohnD on Fri May 06, 2022 12:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: APOD: NGC 3572 and the Southern Tadpoles (2022 May 06)

Post by orin stepanek » Fri May 06, 2022 11:42 am

NGC3572SouthernTadpolesCarlosTaylor1024.jpg
future stars! 8-)
.jpg
future frogs! :)
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Re: APOD: NGC 3572 and the Southern Tadpoles (2022 May 06)

Post by johnnydeep » Fri May 06, 2022 9:27 pm

I also noticed the small "ear" or "embryo" shaped structure toward the very top middle of this APOD similar to the one Ann posted in a close-up from a different image. The look very similar - are they the same structure? If so, I can't get the stars to line up! EDIT: ok, they are indeed the same thing:
Ear or Embryo
Ear or Embryo
Attachments
embryo or ear nebula.JPG
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"To B̬̻̋̚o̞̮̚̚l̘̲̀᷾d̫͓᷅ͩḷ̯᷁ͮȳ͙᷊͠ Go......Beyond The F͇̤i̙̖e̤̟l̡͓d͈̹s̙͚ We Know."{ʲₒʰₙNYᵈₑᵉₚ}

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Re: APOD: NGC 3572 and the Southern Tadpoles (2022 May 06)

Post by Ann » Sat May 07, 2022 4:19 am

johnnydeep wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 9:27 pm I also noticed the small "ear" or "embryo" shaped structure toward the very top middle of this APOD similar to the one Ann posted in a close-up from a different image. The look very similar - are they the same structure? If so, I can't get the stars to line up! EDIT: ok, they are indeed the same thing:
Ear or Embryo
Fascinating, Johnny! Thanks!

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Re: APOD: NGC 3572 and the Southern Tadpoles (2022 May 06)

Post by starsurfer » Sat May 07, 2022 10:32 pm

NGC 3572 refers to just the star cluster on its own. The nebula is catalogued as Gum 37.

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Re: APOD: NGC 3572 and the Southern Tadpoles (2022 May 06)

Post by johnnydeep » Sun May 08, 2022 3:06 pm

Ann wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 4:19 am
johnnydeep wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 9:27 pm I also noticed the small "ear" or "embryo" shaped structure toward the very top middle of this APOD similar to the one Ann posted in a close-up from a different image. The look very similar - are they the same structure? If so, I can't get the stars to line up! EDIT: ok, they are indeed the same thing:
Ear or Embryo
Fascinating, Johnny! Thanks!

Ann
And looking again, it seems like the two ear-like structures are rotated a little differently with respect to the stars, no? E.g., the redish one's bottom part looks to be rotated clockwise a few degrees. But I gather that must be do to optical variations between them and not any real change in position. Although... how long apart were those two photos taken?
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"To B̬̻̋̚o̞̮̚̚l̘̲̀᷾d̫͓᷅ͩḷ̯᷁ͮȳ͙᷊͠ Go......Beyond The F͇̤i̙̖e̤̟l̡͓d͈̹s̙͚ We Know."{ʲₒʰₙNYᵈₑᵉₚ}

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