by APOD Robot » Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:06 am
Stars in a Dusty Sky
Explanation: Bright star Markab anchors this dusty skyscape. At the top right corner of the frame, Markab itself marks a corner of an asterism known as
the Great Square, found within the boundaries of the constellation Pegasus,
the flying horse. The wide and deep telescopic view rides along for some 5 degrees or about 10 times the
angular diameter of the Full Moon, with
blue reflection nebulae scattered around the scene. And even though this
line-of-sight looks away from the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, it covers a region known to be filled with nearby molecular clouds. The associated dust clouds, high latitude
galactic cirrus, are less than 1,000 light-years distant. Still apparent, but far beyond the Milky Way, are background galaxies, like the prominent
edge-on spiral NGC 7497 near picture center.
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[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120928.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_120928.jpg[/img] [size=150]Stars in a Dusty Sky[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] [url=http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/markab.html]Bright star Markab[/url] anchors this dusty skyscape. At the top right corner of the frame, Markab itself marks a corner of an asterism known as [url=http://www.bpastro.org/index.php?page=the-great-square-of-pegasus]the Great Square[/url], found within the boundaries of the constellation Pegasus, [url=http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/pegasus.htm]the flying horse[/url]. The wide and deep telescopic view rides along for some 5 degrees or about 10 times the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061228.html]angular diameter[/url] of the Full Moon, with [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091229.html]blue reflection nebulae[/url] scattered around the scene. And even though this [url=http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galchart.html]line-of-sight looks[/url] away from the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, it covers a region known to be filled with nearby molecular clouds. The associated dust clouds, high latitude [url=http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Bothun2/Bothun6_1_2.html]galactic cirrus[/url], are less than 1,000 light-years distant. Still apparent, but far beyond the Milky Way, are background galaxies, like the prominent [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010510.html]edge-on spiral[/url] NGC 7497 near picture center.
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