Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

IC 4628: The Prawn Nebula

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 9, 2016 is “IC 4628: The Prawn Nebula,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Image Credit & Copyright: Data – ESO/INAF/R. Colombari/E. Recurt, Processing – R. Colombari). The original explanation runs about 142 words.

IC 4628: The Prawn Nebula
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Data – ESO/INAF/R. Colombari/E. Recurt, Processing – R. Colombari Copyrighted Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“South of Antares , in the tail of the nebula-rich constellation Scorpius , lies emission nebula IC 4628. Nearby hot, massive stars , millions of years young, irradiate the nebula with invisible ultraviolet light, stripping electrons from atoms.”

— APOD editors, December 9, 2016

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 9, 2016
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Data – ESO/INAF/R. Colombari/E. Recurt, Processing – R. Colombari
Copyright
Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 142 words

All of December 2016 → · 2016 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 9 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.