by APOD Robot » Wed Apr 22, 2015 4:08 am
Colorful Star Clouds in Cygnus
Explanation: Stars can form in colorful surroundings.
Featured here is a star forming region rich in glowing gas and dark dust toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus), near the bright star Sadr.
This region, which spans about 50 light years, is part of the
Gamma Cygni nebula which lies about 1,800 light years distant. Toward the right of
the image is Barnard 344, a dark and twisted dust cloud rich in cool molecular gas. A dramatic wall of dust and red-glowing
hydrogen gas forms a line down the picture center. While the glowing red gas is indicative of small
emission nebulas, the blue tinted areas are
reflection nebulas -- starlight reflecting from usually dark dust grains. The
Gamma Cygni nebula will likely not last the next billion years, as most of the bright young
stars will
explode, most of the dust will be destroyed, and most of the gas will drift away.
[/b]
[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150422.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_150422.jpg[/img] [size=150]Colorful Star Clouds in Cygnus[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Stars can form in colorful surroundings. [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/avdhoeven/16898359710/sizes/o/]Featured here[/url] is a star forming region rich in glowing gas and dark dust toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus), near the bright star Sadr. [url=http://www.dutchdeepsky.com/lbn234_130718.html]This region[/url], which spans about 50 light years, is part of the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130709.html]Gamma Cygni[/url] nebula which lies about 1,800 light years distant. Toward the right of [url=http://www.astro-photo.nl/deepsky/nebulae/gamma-cygni-nebula-barnard-344]the image[/url] is Barnard 344, a dark and twisted dust cloud rich in cool molecular gas. A dramatic wall of dust and red-glowing [url=http://periodic.lanl.gov/1.shtml]hydrogen[/url] gas forms a line down the picture center. While the glowing red gas is indicative of small [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/emission_nebulae.html]emission nebulas[/url], the blue tinted areas are [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_nebula]reflection nebulas[/url] -- starlight reflecting from usually dark dust grains. The [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121130.html]Gamma Cygni nebula[/url] will likely not last the next billion years, as most of the bright young [url=http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/how-do-stars-form-and-evolve/]stars[/url] will [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgfbjHz_UTo]explode[/url], most of the dust will be destroyed, and most of the gas will drift away.
[b][table][tr][td=left][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=150421]<< Previous APOD[/url][/td] [td=center][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/view_retro.php?date=0422]This Day in APOD[/url][/td] [td=right][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=150423]Next APOD >>[/url][/td][/tr][/table][/b]