LDN 43: The Cosmic Bat Nebula
Explanation:
What is the most spook-tacular nebula in the galaxy?
One contender is LDN 43, which bears an astonishing resemblance to a vast cosmic
bat
flying
amongst the stars on a dark
Halloween night.
Located about 1400
light years
away in the constellation
Ophiuchus, this
molecular cloud is dense enough to
block light
not only from background stars,
but from wisps of gas lit up by the nearby
reflection nebula
LBN 7.
Far from being a harbinger of death, this
12-light year-long filament of gas and
dust is actually a
stellar nursery.
Glowing with
eerie light, the bat is lit up from inside by
dense gaseous knots that have just formed
young stars.
Celebrate:
Halloween
With NASA Online
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
