Tag Archives: Spider Nebula

Behold IC417 and NGC1931, two large emission nebulae toward the constellation of Auriga. Also known as the Spider Nebula (for obvious reasons) and (less obviously, but continuing the theme), ‘The Fly’. To wit:

About 10,000 light-years distant, both nebulae harbour young, open star clusters. For scale, the more compact NGC 1931 (Fly) is about 10 light-years across. The featured picture in scientifically-assigned, infrared colours, combines images from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Spitzer is celebrating its 16th year orbiting the Sun near the Earth.

(ImageNASAJPL-CaltechSpitzer Space Telescope2MASS)

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