Astronomy Picture of the Day · January 8, 2009

NGC 2736: The Pencil Nebula

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for January 8, 2009 is “NGC 2736: The Pencil Nebula,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford ( Rancho Del Sol Observatory )). The original explanation runs about 127 words.

From the explanation

“This shock wave plows through space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour. Moving right to left in the beautifully detailed color composite, the thin, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge on.”

— APOD editors, January 8, 2009

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date: January 8, 2009
Type: Image
Credit: Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford ( Rancho Del Sol Observatory )
Copyright: Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length: About 127 words

All of January 2009 → · 2009 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

Nebulae

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: January 8 in other years

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Source

Astronomy Picture of the Day, January 8, 2009 — science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2009-january-8-ngc-2736-the-pencil-nebula

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.