It was created using data collected from the SOFIA mission
Chinese New Year is one of the most important and culturally significant festivals marked with great pomp and zeal by Chinese communities across the world. This year, the Chinese New Year Lunar, also called New Year started on February 10. It is being celebrated as the “Year of the Wood Dragon” and marks the end of winter and welcomes the spring season. To mark the onset of the Lunar New Year, NASA shared a three-dimensional and rotating image of a nebula that "appears to be in the shape of a dragon". It was created using data collected from the SOFIA mission.
NASA wrote in the caption, “Welcome to the year of the Dragon. This three-dimensional view of the Orion Nebula – Earth's closest star-formation nursery – was created using data from the SOFIA mission. It reveals the detailed structure of the nebula, including a “bubble” that has been blown clear of gas and dust by a powerful stellar wind. In this way, massive stars can regulate star formation around them, and SOFIA helped astronomers better understand this effect.''
Watch the video here:
Explaining the image, NASA said that the nebula has a blue center, with red wispy fragments on the outer detail.
"The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) was a mission of discovery, revealing unseen – and sometimes unseeable – parts of our universe. While science flights have ended, SOFIA's data from a total of 732 nights observing throughout the mission are publicly available for scientists to study and conduct further research in the future,” NASA added.
Reacting to the incredible image, one user wrote, ''Never in my life would I think to see a 360 of my favorite nebula, thank you.''
Another commented, ''my favorite nebula omg.'' A third said, ''Very cool… looks like a 3D ultrasound of the Phoenix.'' A fourth added, ''We love you guys nasa... Happy lunar New year.''
Notably, each Chinese New Year is assigned a zodiac sign, of which there are 12. Each Chinese zodiac sign is associated with an animal. They are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. While 2023 was the Year of the Rabbit, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. Chinese New Year 2025 will be the Year of the Snake.