APOD: 2022 October 12 - Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula

Good afternoon, Rallypoint, and welcome to the October 12th Hump Day edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD): "Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula." Jules Verne may have not known of the Giant Squid Nebula near the constellation Cepheus (it was only discovered in 2011 by amateur astronomer Nicholas Outters), but he may have been able to see it in his mind's eye. Researchers believe The Squid is an oxygen-rich outflow (colored blue) from a three star cluster (HR-8119) at the center of the nebula, and that an ocean of ionized hydrogen (Sharpless 2-129) surrounds it.

The notes for today's APOD indicate that the exposure time needed to resolve the squid was over 30 hours. I'll post a follow-up link in a separate comment that talks to the processing that likely went into giving us this glimpse into the stars.