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What's in the sky tonight?
April 9, 2012

-The Big Dipper, high in the northeast, dumps water into the dim Little Dipper during evening at this time of year.

-Jupiter is sinking ever lower toward the sunset far below Venus. Jupiter is rounding toward the far side of the Sun, which is why a telescope shows it a disappointingly small 33 arcseconds wide. In addition, Jupiter appears increasingly fuzzy at its ever-lower altitude.

Astro Picture of the Day:
April 9, 2012

Source:
Strange shapes and textures can be found in neighborhood of the Cone Nebula. The unusual shapes originate from fine interstellar dust reacting in complex ways with the energetic light and hot gas being expelled by the young stars. The brightest star on the right of the above picture is S Mon, while the region just below it has been nicknamed the Fox Fur Nebula for its color and structure. The blue glow directly surrounding S Mon results from reflection, where neighboring dust reflects light from the bright star. The red glow that encompasses the whole region results not only from dust reflection but also emission from hydrogen gas ionized by starlight. S Mon is part of a young open cluster of stars named NGC 2264, located about 2500 light years away toward the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros). The origin of the mysterious geometric Cone Nebula, visible on the far left, remains a mystery.