Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

IC 418: The Spirograph Nebula

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 14, 2002 is “IC 418: The Spirograph Nebula,” an image. It is credited to Credit: R. Sahai ( JPL ) et al., Hubble Heritage Team ( STScI / AURA ), NASA. The original explanation runs about 167 words.

IC 418: The Spirograph Nebula
Credit: R. Sahai ( JPL ) et al., Hubble Heritage Team ( STScI / AURA ), NASA Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“What is creating the strange texture of IC 418? Dubbed the Spirograph Nebula for its resemblance to drawings from a cyclical drawing tool , planetary nebula IC 418 shows patterns that are not well understood.”

— APOD editors, December 14, 2002

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 14, 2002
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: R. Sahai ( JPL ) et al., Hubble Heritage Team ( STScI / AURA ), NASA
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 167 words

All of December 2002 → · 2002 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

Nebulae

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: December 14 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.