Starship Asterisk*

Stars and Dust Across Corona Australis

Explanation: Cosmic dust clouds sprawl across a rich field of stars in this sweeping telescopic vista near the northern boundary of Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. Probably less than 500 light-years away and effectively blocking light from more distant, background stars in the Milky Way, the densest part of the dust cloud is about 8 light-years long. At its tip (upper right) is a group of lovely reflection nebulae cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, 6729, and IC 4812. A characteristic blue color is produced as light from hot stars is reflected by the cosmic dust. The smaller yellowish nebula (NGC 6729) surrounds young variable star R Coronae Australis. Magnificent globular star cluster NGC 6723 is toward the upper right corner of the view. While NGC 6723 appears to be part of the group, it actually lies nearly 30,000 light-years away, far beyond the Corona Australis dust clouds.

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This is a lovely image of a beautiful part of the sky, a low-mass (or medium-mass) star formation region. We can so clearly see the full extent of the dust cloud that has given rise to the star formation. Most of the dust is thin, and we can see stars right through it much of it, although the stars behind the dust are reddened by the brownish dust. It is probably only in the one part of the cloud where new stars are currently forming that the cloud is thick enough that we may see some future star formation.

One thing I find fascinating is that the dust cloud is so limited in extent, and that some parts of this skyscape seem completely "clear". The distant globular, fascinatingly, narrowly escapes the dusty "front" of the cloud and shines down on us unobscured.

I actually think that a picture like this calls for a cosmic "meteorologist"!



Hey, Mister Weatherman, what strong winds and pressure gradients can you see in today's APOD?

Ann

I love the zoom videos of space! It's amazing how far we can see.

orin stepanek wrote:
I love the zoom videos of space! It's amazing how far we can see.

keep doing this