Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Pelican Nebula Ionization Front

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 13, 2003 is “Pelican Nebula Ionization Front,” an image. It is credited to Credit: John Bally ( U. Colorado ) & Bo Reipurth ( U. Hawaii ), NOAO , AURA , NSF. The original explanation runs about 162 words.

Pelican Nebula Ionization Front
Credit: John Bally ( U. Colorado ) & Bo Reipurth ( U. Hawaii ), NOAO , AURA , NSF Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“What’s happening to the Pelican Nebula ? The light from young energetic stars is slowly transforming the Pelican ‘s cold gas to hot gas, with the advancing boundary between the two known as an ionization front.”

— APOD editors, October 13, 2003

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
October 13, 2003
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: John Bally ( U. Colorado ) & Bo Reipurth ( U. Hawaii ), NOAO , AURA , NSF
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 162 words

All of October 2003 → · 2003 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

Nebulae

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: October 13 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.