Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 August 5
A starfield is shown dominated by a complex nebula shown with many red filaments and with a light glow in a region near the centre. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

NGC 6072: A Complex Planetary Nebula from Webb
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, JWST

Explanation: Why is this nebula so complex? The Webb Space Telescope has imaged a nebula in great detail that is thought to have emerged from a Sun-like star. NGC 6072 has been resolved into one of the more unusual and complex examples of planetary nebula. The featured image is in infrared light with the red colour highlighting cool hydrogen gas. Study of previous images of NGC 6072 indicated several likely outflows and two disks inside the jumbled gas, while the new Webb image resolves new features likely including one disk's edge protruding on the central left. A leading origin hypothesis holds that the nebula's complexity is caused or enhanced by multiple outbursts from a star in a multi-star system near the centre.

Tomorrow's picture: meteor galaxy

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