{"copyright":"Massimo Di Fusco","date":"2025-07-05","explanation":"Difficult to capture, this mysterious, squid-shaped interstellar cloud spans nearly three ful l moons in planet Earth's sky. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula's bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Though apparently surrounded by the reddish hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and nature of t he Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, one investigation sugge sts Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent w ith that scenario, the cosmic squid would represent a spectacular outflow of mat erial driven by a triple system of hot, massive stars, cataloged as HR8119, seen near the center of the nebula. If so, this truly giant squid nebula would physi cally be over 50 light-years across.","hdurl":"https:\/\/apod.nasa.gov\/apod\/im age\/2507\/Ou4_difusco.jpg","media_type":"image","service_version":"v1","title": "Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula","url":"https:\/\/apod.nasa.gov\/apod\/image\/2507\ /Ou4_difusco1024.jpg"}
