Dr. Hannah Faye V. Pagayunan

09/10/2025

NGC 7380: The Wizard Nebula (APOD: 2025 Oct 08)
Images Credit & Copyright: Nevenka Blagovic Horvat & Miroslav Horvat

Explanation: What powers are being wielded in the Wizard Nebula? Gravitation strong enough to form stars, and stellar winds and radiations powerful enough to create and dissolve towers of gas. Located only 8,000 light years away, the Wizard nebula, featured here, surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer. The active star forming region spans about 100 light years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be located with a small telescope toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus). Although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.

https://www.flickr.com/people/miroslav1/
https://www.instagram.com/miroslav.horvat/

Starship Asterisk* • APOD Discussion Page
https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=251008

09/10/2025

09/10/2025

29/09/2025

29/09/2025

Explore the surprising truth about visual perception and its implications for observing sky objects and events.

29/09/2025

☀️ Ready to soak up the sun? 🏖️ Don’t forget your sunscreen! Apply it generously 15 minutes before heading out to keep your skin safe and healthy!

Learn more: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/sun-exposure

29/09/2025

A large study that analyzed smartphone data found that moving to different communities can affect how much you walk.

17/09/2025

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists have been linked to excess risk for some cancers. However, weight loss with these drugs also could lower risk for obesity-related cancers. Three large observational studies provide more data. https://jwat.ch/41PwXVK

17/09/2025

New Comet SWAN25B over Mexico (APOD: 2025 Sep 16)
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Korona
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250916.html

Explanation: A newly discovered comet is already visible with binoculars. The comet, C/2025 R2 (SWAN) and nicknamed SWAN25B, is brightening significantly as it emerges from the Sun's direction and might soon become visible on your smartphone -- if not your eyes. Although the brightnesses of comets are notoriously hard to predict, many comets appear brighter as they approach the Earth, with SWAN25B reaching only a quarter of the Earth-Sun distance near October 19. Nighttime skygazers will also be watching for a SWAN25B-spawned meteor shower around October 5 when our Earth passes through the plane of the comet's orbit. The unexpectedly bright comet was discovered by an amateur astronomer in images of the SWAN instrument on NASA's SOHO satellite. The comet is currently best observed in southern skies but is slowly moving north. The featured image was captured at sunset three days ago just above the western horizon in Zacatecas, Mexico.

Starship Asterisk* • APOD Discussion Page
https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250916

08/09/2025

The Horsehead and Flame Nebulas (APOD: 2025 Sep 02)
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Stern
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250902.html

Explanation: The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most famous nebulae on the sky. It is visible as the dark indentation to the orange emission nebula at the far right of the featured picture. The horse-head feature is dark because it is really an opaque dust cloud that lies in front of the bright emission nebula. Like clouds in Earth's atmosphere, this cosmic cloud has assumed a recognizable shape by chance. After many thousands of years, the internal motions of the cloud will surely alter its appearance. The emission nebula's orange color is caused by electrons recombining with protons to form hydrogen atoms. Toward the lower left of the image is the Flame Nebula, an orange-tinged nebula that also contains intricate filaments of dark dust.

https://www.instagram.com/messierchaser/

Starship Asterisk* • APOD Discussion Page
https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250902