Daily Telescope: A bright nebula in a one-horned constellation

Enlarge / NGC 2170. (credit: Mel Martin)

Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light, a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We’ll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we’re going to take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is filled with stars and wonder.

Good morning. It’s February 8, and today’s photo comes from the skies over Arizona.

This is an image of NGC 2170, the reddish nebula in the center of the frame. It is a large area of cosmic dust that is reflecting the light of bright, nearby stars. There are other nebulae and bright stars in this image, all of which combine to give this image its colorful appearance.