... February 1, 1998 . NGC 1977: Blue Reflection Nebula in Orion . ... Explanation: The Orion Nebula is visible to the unaided eye as a fuzzy patch near the famous belt of three stars in the constellation Orion . The above picture captures a part of the Orion Nebula that primarily reflects light from bright Orion stars. This reflection nebula appears blue because the blue light from the neighboring stars scatters more efficiently from nebula gas than does red light. ... About APOD > . ...

... 2000 April 24 . Reflection Nebula M78 . ... Explanation: An eerie blue glow and ominous columns of dark dust highlight M78, a bright reflection nebula in the constellation of Orion . The dust not only absorbs light, but also reflects the light of several bright blue stars that formed recently in the nebula. ... M78 belongs to the larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex that contains the Great Nebula in Orion and the Horsehead Nebula . ... About APOD | ...

Supernova 1987A in LMC . One day in 1987, an astronomer by the name of Ian Shelton was making observations of the Tarantula Nebula in Large Magellanic cloud at Las Campanas Observatory, and he noticed something strange on his image. ... SN 1987A got as bright as 2.7, the only other recent SN even to come close was 1885A in M31 which got up to mag 6. ... Mag 4.5 . ... IAUC 4318 2/25/87 Type II? ... IAUC 7354 2/1/00 New structure in the inner ring . ... IAUC 7360 2/7/00 HST observation of new spot . ...

... Here is a brief outline of the current theory of the events in the early history of the solar system: . A cloud of interstellar gas and/or dust (the "solar nebula") is disturbed and collapses under its own gravity. ... The gas cools off enough for the metal, rock and (far enough from the forming star) ice to condense out into tiny particles. (i.e. some of the gas turns back into dust). ... Once the larger of these particles get big enough to have a nontrivial gravity, their growth accelerates. ...