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Credit & Copyright: Josep Drudis
Explanation:
Cosmic dust clouds and young, energetic stars
inhabit
this telescopic vista,
less than 500 light-years away toward the northern boundary of
Corona Australis, the Southern Crown.
The dust clouds effectively block light from
more distant background stars in the
Milky Way.
But the striking complex of reflection nebulae cataloged as
NGC 6726, 6727,
and IC 4812 produce a characteristic color as blue light
from the region's young, hot stars is
reflected by the cosmic dust.
The dust
also obscures from view stars
still in the process
of formation.
At top right, smaller yellowish nebula NGC 6729 bends around
young variable star
R
Coronae Australis.
Near it, glowing arcs and loops
shocked by outflows from embedded newborn stars
are identified as Herbig-Haro objects.
On the sky this field of view spans about 1 degree.
That corresponds to almost 9 light-years at the estimated
distance of the nearby star forming region.
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: star formation - dust
Publications with words: star formation - dust
See also: