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The Lion’s markings

David Gluchowski, taken from Brooklyn, New York

The Lion Nebula (Sharpless 2–132) is a faint emission nebula lit by young hot stars; their winds and radiation are expanding outward, forming shock waves that comprise many of the lion’s features. This shot also accentuates the play of light and shadow around the lion’s “head”. The imager took 46 hours of data in Hubble-palette filters with a 6-inch f/4 scope.