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Credit:
Anglo-Australian Telescope photograph by David Malin
Copyright: Anglo-Australian Telescope Board
Explanation:
Did you ever feel like a black cloud was following
you around? Well don't feel bad - this even happened to the bright
young stars of the open cluster NGC
6520. On the left are the cluster's bright blue stars. They
formed only millions of years ago - much more recently than our
ancient Sun
which formed billions of years ago. On the right is an absorption
nebula from
which the stars might have formed. This nebula contains much
opaque dust which blocks
visible light from the many stars that would have been seen in
the background. The study of open clusters is valuable for many
reasons which include the understanding star formation
and the calibration of the distance scale of our universe.
Anglo-Australian Telescope photograph by David Malin
Copyright: Anglo-Australian Telescope Board
Information:
Thursday, September 26 - A Total Lunar Eclipse
Tomorrow's picture: A Total Lunar Eclipse
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: clouds - stars
Publications with words: clouds - stars
See also: