¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2020 March 25 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Star Forming Region S106 Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]Hubble Legacy Archive; Processing & Copyright: [6]Utkarsh Mishra Explanation: Massive star IRS 4 is beginning to spread its wings. Born only about 100,000 years ago, material streaming out from this [7]newborn star has formed the nebula dubbed Sharpless 2-106 Nebula (S106), [8]featured here. A large disk of [9]dust and gas orbiting Infrared Source 4 (IRS 4), visible in brown near the image center, gives the nebula an [10]hourglass or [11]butterfly shape. [12]S106 gas near IRS 4 acts as an [13]emission nebula as it emits light after being [14]ionized, while [15]dust far from [16]IRS 4 reflects light from the central star and so acts as a [17]reflection nebula. Detailed inspection of a relevant [18]infrared image of S106 reveal hundreds of low-mass [19]brown dwarf stars lurking in [20]the nebula's gas. S106 spans about 2 [21]light-years and lies about 2000 light-years away toward the [22]constellation of the Swan ([23]Cygnus). Tomorrow's picture: Andromeda Station __________________________________________________________________ [24]< | [25]Archive | [26]Submissions | [27]Index | [28]Search | [29]Calendar | [30]RSS | [31]Education | [32]About APOD | [33]Discuss | [34]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [35]Robert Nemiroff ([36]MTU) & [37]Jerry Bonnell ([38]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [39]Specific rights apply. [40]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [41]ASD at [42]NASA / [43]GSFC & [44]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2003/S106_Mishra_1947.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.esa.int/ 5. https://hla.stsci.edu/ 6. https://www.flickr.com/photos/163350986@N06/ 7. https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/how-do-stars-form-and-evolve/ 8. https://www.flickr.com/photos/163350986@N06/43790342142/in/dateposted-public/ 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150510.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141001.html 12. https://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/IRCAM/OPRIME/Gallery/ASTRO/S106.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/emission_nebulae.html 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionization 15. https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Mathis/Mathis1.html 16. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AJ....137.3149S/abstract 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/reflection_nebulae.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111107.html 19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_dwarf 20. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998AJ....116.1868B/abstract 21. http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question19.html 22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation 23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_(constellation) 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200324.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 28. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 33. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200325 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200326.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 37. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 38. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 40. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 41. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/ 43. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 44. http://www.mtu.edu/