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Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby &
Mark Hanson
Explanation:
Centered
in this
colorful cosmic canvas,
NGC 2626 is a beautiful,
bright, blue reflection nebula in the southern Milky Way.
Next to an obscuring dust cloud and
surrounded by reddish hydrogen emission from large
H II region
RCW 27 it lies within a complex of
dusty
molecular clouds known as the
Vela Molecular Ridge.
NGC 2626
is itself a cloud of interstellar dust
reflecting blue light from the young hot embedded star
visible within the nebula.
But astronomical
explorations
reveal many other young stars
and associated nebulae in the star-forming region.
NGC 2626 is about 3,200 light-years away.
At that distance this telescopic field of view would span
about 30 light-years along the
Vela Molecular
Ridge.
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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 - molecular cloud
Publications with words: reflection nebula - molecular cloud
See also: