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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 September 8
     A starfield surrounds a nebula with a vertical brown bar across its
   center. Gas and dust fan out from the bar making the nebula appear like
     a colorful butterfly. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                 IRAS 04302: Butterfly Disk Planet Formation
     Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Webb; Processing: M. Villenave et al.

   Explanation: This butterfly can hatch planets. The nebula fanning out
   from the star IRAS 04302+2247 may look like the wings of a butterfly,
   while the vertical brown stripe down the center may look like the
   butterfly's body -- but together they indicate an active planet-forming
   system. The featured picture was captured recently in infrared light by
   the Webb Space Telescope. Pictured, the vertical disk is thick with the
   gas and dust from which planets form. The disk shades visible and
   (most) infrared light from the central star, allowing a good view of
   the surrounding dust that reflects out light. In the next few million
   years, the dust disk will likely fragment into rings through the
   gravity of newly hatched planets. And a billion years from now, the
   remaining gas and dust will likely dissipate, leaving mainly the
   planets -- like in our Solar System.

                 Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator
                      Tomorrow's picture: up from Earth
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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