NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day features Sh2-188, the Shrimp Nebula, a large planetary nebula with a striking asymmetric swirl.
The white-dwarf core left behind by a Sun-like star is moving unusually quickly through interstellar space. That motion creates a bow shock, brightening compressed gas on the leading edge much like water piles up ahead of a moving boat.
The image was captured from a backyard telescope in Krakow using hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen emissions—a good example of how sophisticated narrowband astrophotography has become accessible outside professional observatories.