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Credit & Copyright: Stephen Leshin
Explanation:
Described as a "dusty curtain" or
"ghostly apparition",
mysterious reflection nebula VdB 152 really is very faint.
Far from your neighborhood on this
Halloween
Night, the cosmic phantom is nearly 1,400 light-years away.
Also catalogued as Ced 201, it lies along the
northern Milky Way
in the royal constellation
Cepheus.
Near the edge of a large molecular cloud,
pockets of interstellar dust in the region block light from
background stars or scatter light from the embedded bright star
giving parts of
the nebula
a characteristic blue color.
Ultraviolet light from the star is also
thought
to cause a dim reddish
luminescence
in the nebular dust.
Though stars do form in
molecular clouds, this star
seems to have only accidentally wandered
into the area, as its measured velocity through
space is very different from the cloud's velocity.
This deep telescopic image
of the region spans about 7 light-years.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
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: reflection nebula - dust
Publications with words: reflection nebula - dust
See also:
- APOD: 2024 January 29 Á The Pleiades: Seven Dusty Sisters
- The Light, the Dark, and the Dusty
- APOD: 2023 October 30 Á Reflections of the Ghost Nebula
- The Ghosts of Gamma Cas
- APOD: 2023 September 26 Á IC 4592: The Blue Horsehead Reflection Nebula
- NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula
- NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus