Posted on Feb 3, 2026
APOD: 2026 February 3 – Red Spider Planetary Nebula from Webb
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Good afternoon, Rallypoint, and welcome to the February 3, 2026 edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day.
This would be one that I would nominate for "Webb's Greatest Hits." There is a lot to see in infrared: a potential binary star system, stellar winds clocked at over 625 miles per second, the tendrils of light that evidence the waves of hot gas and dust as they collide...all at a suspected distance of less than 4,000 light years. A tangled web from the red spider. Hat tip JWST team.
This would be one that I would nominate for "Webb's Greatest Hits." There is a lot to see in infrared: a potential binary star system, stellar winds clocked at over 625 miles per second, the tendrils of light that evidence the waves of hot gas and dust as they collide...all at a suspected distance of less than 4,000 light years. A tangled web from the red spider. Hat tip JWST team.
APOD: 2026 February 3 – Red Spider Planetary Nebula from Webb
Posted from apod.nasa.gov
Posted 9 d ago
Responses: 5
Posted 9 d ago
So a couple things here...1) I thought you were some kind of super genius. I thought you wrote each and every one of these essays about the pictures. 2) the amount of physics, chemistry, and cosmology inherent in this one picture is simply stunning. 3) Yep, it is one of the top ten for me, at least.
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price
9 d
SGT Kevin Hughes I can take credit for my own comments, but the science provided by others gets me started. Glad you liked this one.
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SGT Kevin Hughes
9 d
Maj William W. 'Bill' Price - Brilliant. As my English friends would say: "Major Price is quite clever." And "clever" is a much stronger word over there!
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Posted 9 d ago
Maj William W. 'Bill' Price oh this is beautiful. It looks like light fairies and the legs of firecrackers.
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