APOD 1.2

Emission nebula IC 4628--which goes by an array of names such as Gum 56 (as its Australian discoverer Colin Stanley Gum dubbed it) or The Prawn Nebula--sits in the nebula tail of the constellation Scorpius, south of its heart bright star Antares. The radiation of ultraviolet rays from enormous stars only millions of years old strips atoms of their electrons, which then assimilate and produce a red nebular glow (the red deriving from the hydrogen content). This nebula fosters several clusters of clouds, including Collinder 316, Trumpler 24, and Sco OB1, making it the jewel box of Scorpius. Vela and Puppis are two constellations located near the nebula, being swallowed up by it's sprawling expansion thought to the result of a supernova. On the celestial sphere and from an earthly view, the nebula appears to be roughly four moons across, its actual length around 250 light-years, as the real nebula is estimated to be over 6 000 away.