Day: April 5, 2021

Veil Nebula: Wisps of an Exploded Star

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Wisps like this are all that remain visible of a Milky Way star. About 7,000 years ago that star exploded in a supernova leaving the Veil Nebula. At the time, the expanding cloud was likely as bright as a crescent Moon, remaining visible for weeks to people living at the dawn of recorded history. Today, the resulting supernova remnant, also known as the Cygnus Loop, has faded and is now visible only through a small telescope directed toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus). The remaining Veil Nebula is physically huge, however, and even though it lies about 1,400 light-years distant, it covers over five times the size of the full Moon. The featured picture is a Hubble Space Telescope mosaic of six images together covering a span of only about two light years, a small part of the expansive supernova remnant. In images of the complete Veil Nebula, even studious readers might not be able to identify the featured filaments. via NASA https://ift.tt/39Jot7n

Wikipedia article of the day for April 5, 2021

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Wikipedia article of the day is Siegfried Lederer’s escape from Auschwitz. Check it out: Article-Link Summary: Siegfried Lederer escaped from Auschwitz on the night of 5ย Aprilย 1944, wearing an SS uniform provided by Viktor Pestek, a guard at the concentration camp (gate pictured). Pestek opposed the Holocaust because of his Catholic faith and infatuation with Renรฉe Neumann, a Jewish prisoner. Lederer, a former Czechoslovak Army officer and a Jewish member of the Czech resistance, tried unsuccessfully to warn the Jews at Theresienstadt Ghetto about the mass murders at Auschwitz. After he and Pestek returned to Auschwitz in an attempt to rescue Neumann and her mother, Pestek was arrested and later executed. Lederer returned to occupied Czechoslovakia, where he rejoined the resistance movement and attempted to smuggle a report on Auschwitz to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Switzerland. After the war he remained in Czechoslovakia. The story of the escape was retold by Lederer, historian Erich Kulka, and other writers.