APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
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APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by APOD Robot » Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:15 am

Image A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Christmas Tree

Explanation: What do the following things have in common: a cone, the fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros). Pictured as a star forming region and cataloged as NGC 2264, the complex jumble of cosmic gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant and mixes reddish emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar dust clouds. Where the otherwise obscuring dust clouds lie close to the hot, young stars they also reflect starlight, forming blue reflection nebulae. The image spans about the diameter of a full moon, covering about 30 light-years at the distance of NGC 2264. Its cast of cosmic characters includes the Fox Fur Nebula, whose convoluted pelt lies on the lower right, bright variable star S Mon visible just above the Fox Fur, and the Cone Nebula on the image left. Given their distribution, the stars of NGC 2264 are also known as the Christmas Tree star cluster. The triangular tree shape traced by the stars appears here with its apex at the Cone Nebula on the left with its broader base near S Mon on the right.

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daveover

Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by daveover » Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:23 am

Just wondering what the scratches on the image are from? They are especially prominent zoomed in.

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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by Ann » Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:56 am

daveover wrote:Just wondering what the scratches on the image are from? They are especially prominent zoomed in.
They may be tracks of random high-energy particles.

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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by Ann » Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:57 am

This is a wonderful region of star formation, brilliantly beautiful. And it is a great APOD! :D

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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by geckzilla » Mon Jan 05, 2015 11:05 am

Ann wrote:
daveover wrote:Just wondering what the scratches on the image are from? They are especially prominent zoomed in.
They may be tracks of random high-energy particles.
Dust, in this case. Cosmic rays tend to hit the atmosphere before reaching us down here. Quite a happy thing, that.
Just call me "geck" because "zilla" is like a last name.

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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by rcolombari » Mon Jan 05, 2015 11:08 am

Thanks to all, first.
Probably it is some kind of dust as Judy wrote.

I should have removed them using the clone tool but the desire of publishing the image before Christmas predominated :)
I'll do a second "cleaned" version in few days.

Bests,
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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by starsurfer » Mon Jan 05, 2015 11:56 am

There is a lot of star formation activity in this region. There are quite a few Herbig Haro objects visible and I think a star of FU Orionis type was also found in this area. A paper about the Herbig Haro objects.

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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by Boomer12k » Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:54 pm

An Amazing Place!! (scratches are interesting too, as to what caused them)....

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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by Ron-Astro Pharmacist » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:29 pm

There seems to be an arching around the bright star on the right. More artifacts or something else?
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pgoutdoors

Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by pgoutdoors » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:46 pm

What are all the many little lines on the full res version of today’s APOD, NGC2264? I haven’t seen anything like that on any other APOD.

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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by Beyond » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:44 pm

pgoutdoors wrote:What are all the many little lines on the full res version of today’s APOD, NGC2264? I haven’t seen anything like that on any other APOD.
Read the 4th post up from yours.
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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by Ron-Astro Pharmacist » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:52 pm

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:There seems to be an arching around the bright star on the right. More artifacts or something else?
Maybe it's just part of the light echo from variable star S Mon.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130806.html

My link to "variable star" isn't working because my computer's browser is in need of a upgrade which has been completed yet. I'll take a look when I get home. S Mon is one of the many perplexities in today's APOD. Nice choice!!
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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:19 pm

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:
Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:There seems to be an arching around the bright star on the right. More artifacts or something else?
Maybe it's just part of the light echo from variable star S Mon.
It's an artifact. Either diffraction or scatter in the source data, or a deliberate aesthetic choice in processing. You can see similar optical artifacts around all the bright stars.
Chris

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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by geckzilla » Mon Jan 05, 2015 7:25 pm

It wasn't a single image. There were multiple panels and they all had to be lined up with one another. Roberto tells me there were like 540012385 of them. So that is why there are breaks and places where the large arc does not line up.
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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by Ron-Astro Pharmacist » Mon Jan 05, 2015 8:02 pm

Thanks you two for answering the question. I'd love to understand how anyone could juggle that much data but I might as well wish that I could leap the Grand Canyon. I'm happy enough just looking at it. :D
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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by geckzilla » Mon Jan 05, 2015 8:09 pm

Wait till you see tomorrow's. Tomorrow's has like ten times more.
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Re: APOD: A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Tree... (2015 Jan 05)

Post by Ron-Astro Pharmacist » Mon Jan 05, 2015 8:39 pm

geckzilla wrote:Wait till you see tomorrow's. Tomorrow's has like ten times more.
Well then … I might as well wish I could leap the Valles Marineris..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valles_Marineris

That's pretty good foreshadowing Geck! (Shoot – I guess I needed to compensate for gravity) :facepalm:
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