Astronomy Picture of the Day . ... Of course, the shapes are cosmic dust clouds faintly visible in dimly reflected starlight. Far from your own neighborhood on planet Earth, they lurk at the edge of the Cepheus Flare molecular cloud complex some 1,200 light-years away. ... Also cataloged as Bok globule CB230 , the core of that cloud is collapsing and is likely a binary star system in the early stages of formation. ... Publications with keywords: molecular cloud - star formation . ... NGC 281 . ...