In today's image, we see the Eagle Ray Nebula, which bears a resemblance to a ray flying through space. This is an example of a dark nebula or a molecular cloud which is a denser area of space where larger molecules and dust particles are able to form in the region shielded from the ultraviolet light of nearby stars.

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This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and website directly at: Astronomy Picture of the Day. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

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