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Credit & Copyright: Neil Fleming
Explanation:
Pillars of gas, dust, and young, hot stars seem to
fill the gaping maw of NGC 7822.
At the edge of a giant
molecular cloud toward the northern
constellation
Cepheus, the glowing star forming region
lies about 3,000 light-years away.
Within the nebula, bright edges and dark shapes are
highlighted in this
colorful
skyscape.
The image includes data from both broadband and
narrowband filters,
mapping emission from atomic oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur into blue,
green, and red hues.
The atomic emission is
powered by the energetic radiation from
the hot stars, whose powerful winds and radiation also sculpt
and erode the denser pillar shapes.
Stars could still be forming
inside the pillars by
gravitational collapse,
but as the pillars are
eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cutoff from their
reservoir of
star stuff.
This field spans around 60 light-years at the estimated distance
of NGC 7822.
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: emission nebula - star formation - composite image
Publications with words: emission nebula - star formation - composite image
See also: