Starship Asterisk*

Stars and Dust in Corona Australis

Explanation: Blue 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 nebulas cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, and IC 4812 produce a characteristic blue color as light from the region's bright blue stars is reflected by the cosmic dust. The dust also obscures from view stars still in the process of formation. At the left, smaller yellowish nebula NGC 6729 bends around young variable star R Coronae Australis. Just below 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 one degree, corresponding to almost nine light-years at the estimated distance of the nearby star forming region.

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Reminds me of The Pleiadies...with the striations.

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Boomer12k wrote:Reminds me of The Pleiadies...with the striations.

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The blue color and the striations do remind you of the Pleiades, don't they? But unlike the Pleiades, the blue nebulosity surrounding the bright stars here really is the remnants of the stars' birth cloud.

I just love the Corona Australis region of star formation. It goes without saying that I love the wonderful blue color of it, but closeups like today's APOD reveal a host of other colors and structures as well, the products of ongoing low-mass star formation.

While closeups like today's APOD reveal beautiful details in this site of star formation, wide-angle photos that show the full extent of this dusty region can be even more stunning.

I found a 5 MB wide angle picture of the Corona Australis region of star formation. Yes, I know, 5 MB is totally forbidden and absolutely ridiculous. All right, but the picture really is stunning.

I hope I have given you all proper warning as to the size of the picture, but anyway, here is that 5 MB image:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/92/5c/a0 ... f24ee1.png

Ann

Thanks Ann, that’s a pretty impressive wide angle view.