Starship Asterisk*

The Cave Nebula in Infrared from Spitzer

Explanation: What's happening in and around the Cave Nebula? To help find out, NASA's orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope looked into this optically-dark star-forming region in four colors of infrared light. The Cave Nebula, cataloged as Sh2-155, is quite bright in infrared, revealing details not only of internal pillars of gas and dust, but of the illuminating star cluster too - all near the top of the image. The red glow around the <a rhef="ap150707.html">Cave's entrance</a> is created by dust heated by bright young stars. To the right is Cepheus B, a star cluster that formed previously from the same cloud of gas and dust. Other interesting stars of Cepheus come to light in infrared as well, including those illuminating an even younger nebula toward the image bottom, and a runaway star pushing a bow shock, tinged in red near the image center. This region spans about 50 light years and lies about 2,500 light years toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus).

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

Very nice... and interesting...

:---[===] *

The young nebula at the bottom is Cepheus A.

I don't really see a cave! My imagination must not be working today! Kinda loos like a dogs head to me! At any rate; it's a nice view of this star forming region!

Boomer12k wrote: ↑Tue Jun 11, 2019 4:51 am Very nice... and interesting...

:---[===] *

There are really a lot of exciting things in the area. An extended version can be found at

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/spitzer ... 40x277.jpg
There can also see V374 Ceph. Look closely for the small, red hourglass shape just below Cepheus C. Astronomers studying this massive star have speculated that it might be surrounded by a nearly edge-on disk of dark, dusty material. The dark cones extending to the right and left of the star are a shadow of that disk.

I have never taken much of an interest in the Cave Nebula, but today's APOD is inspiring. Particularly if we compare the Spitzer infrared picture with an RGB image of this region! So, without further ado...




















If I have understood things correctly, Cepheus B is so dark that it is hardly visible in optical light at all. Well, there is a diffuse faint pink region next to the large dark nebula at right. The pink nebulosity may be Cepheus B for all I know, and the very dark shape is one of the Lynds Dark Nebulas, but I don't know which one. I would appreciate some help in identifying it!

Anyway, there is clearly star formation going on inside Cepheus B, which appears to be (mostly) even younger than the Cave Nebula. Then again, the stars of the Cave Nebula are younger than the stars "above" Cepheus B. This is an area of ongoing star formation, that much is certain!

Orin: I think that the "cave" is the roundish dark shape "below" the bright rim of the Cave Nebula.


Take a look at the picture at left. The red rim is very obvious. There is a large dark shape "below" that rim, and I think that the dark shape is the "cave".

Ann