Today's APOD

[Tantalus]

IRAS 05437+2502 taken by Hubble. Astronomy Picture of the Day

Not sure why I like it so much, but I absolutely love this image. The structure in the blue-grey dust cloud is stunning in itself, but that bright peak really tops it off, if you see what I mean. Apart from that, can't really say anything else, just stunning...

[Cloudwatcher]

It reminds me of a Christmas card........ think it must be those spikey stars.

[barkis]

Looks like the spot Superman goes to when he has some deep thoughts to unravel. That is an Ice place though, this is a heap of dust, but decorated with starlight. Hard to believe it's only 1/4 the size of the moon. That's Hubble for you.

Ron.

[ollypenrice]

'A heap of dust, but decorated with starlight.' I think the phrase is even better than the image! TBH I find the picture tad 'Hollywood' but only a tad. If I ignore the diffraction spikes the conical dust structure is breathtaking.

Olly

PS Collimation's not bad!!

[yesyes]

Hmmm, do Hubble pictures inherently have diffraction spikes at all? Or have these been added to make it look more Christmassy (sorry, Holiday Seasony)?

[Psychobilly]

The Wrong link has used .. so the picture will change from day to day....

try this one...which will always display the right image...

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100809.html

Peter...

[Tantalus]

Thanks, Peter...

[jaquesnoir]

You meant this:

APOD: 2010 August 9 - IRAS 05437 2502: An Enigmatic Star Cloud from Hubble

Whoops sorry - didn't read the whole thread. Someone's already said that. Doh!