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                        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 February 25
     A starscape is shown with red filaments running diagonally from the
      lower left to the upper right. Many bright blue stars are visible
     across the center of the frame. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                    M41: The Little Beehive Star Cluster
                     Image Credit & Copyright: Xinran Li

   Explanation: Why are there so many bright blue stars? Stars are usually
   born in clusters, and the brightest and most massive of these stars
   typically glow blue. Less-bright, non-blue stars like our Sun surely
   also exist in this M41 star cluster but are harder to see. A few bright
   orange-appearing red giant stars are visible. The red-light filaments
   are emitted by diffuse hydrogen gas, a color that was specifically
   filtered and enhanced in this image. In a hundred million years or so,
   the bright blue stars will have exploded in supernovas and disappeared,
   while the slightly different trajectories of the fainter stars will
   cause this picturesque open cluster to disperse. Similarly, billions of
   years ago, our own Sun was likely born into a star cluster like M41,
   but it has long since drifted apart from its sister stars. The featured
   image was captured over four hours with Chilescope T2 in Chile.

                     Tomorrow's picture: Einstein's ring
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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