                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2026 January 30

                    NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Eder

   Explanation: NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a reflection nebula,
   dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by
   interstellar dust. A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic
   constellation Perseus, it lies at the edge of a large, star-forming
   molecular cloud. This telescopic close-up spans over two full moons on
   the sky or just over 15 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC
   1333. It shows details of the dusty region along with telltale hints of
   contrasty red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, jets and shocked
   glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars. In fact, NGC 1333
   contains hundreds of stars less than a million years old, most still
   hidden from optical telescopes by the pervasive stardust. The chaotic
   environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun formed over 4.5
   billion years ago.

                      Tomorrow's picture: flight day 13
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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