|
Credit & Copyright: Lloyd L. Smith,
Deep Sky West
Explanation:
This complex of dusty nebulae lingers along the edge of
the Taurus molecular cloud,
a mere 450 light-years distant.
Stars are forming on the
cosmic scene.
Composed from
almost 40 hours of image data, the 2 degree wide
telescopic field of view includes some youthful
T-Tauri class stars
embedded in the remnants of their natal clouds at the right.
Millions of years old and still going through stellar adolescence,
the
stars are variable in brightness and in the
late phases
of their gravitational collapse.
Their core temperatures will rise to sustain nuclear fusion
as they grow into stable, low mass, main sequence stars, a
stage of stellar evolution
achieved by our middle-aged Sun about 4.5 billion years ago.
Another youthful variable star, V1023 Tauri,
can be spotted on the left.
Within its yellowish dust cloud, it lies next to the
striking blue reflection nebula
Cederblad 30, also known as LBN 782.
Just above the bright bluish reflection nebula is dusty dark nebula
Barnard 7.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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: Taurus - dust
Publications with words: Taurus - dust
See also: