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From Earth to the Universe: Picture of the day

COCOON NEBULA Strikingly beautiful, even by nebula standards, the Cocoon Nebula glows pink in the light of hydrogen gas ionised by the large star at centre. This star formed about 100,000 years ago, and its ultraviolet light has carved this nebula out of a vast, dark cloud of gas and dust. We are looking at the nebula through a hole in the side of this cloud. Credit: Ángel R. López-Sánchez (IAC).

In 2009, the "From Earth to the Universe" project brought astronomy to millions of people around the world. Take a tour of just some of the locations in a short video on the FETTU Highlights page.