Seven Dusty Sisters in Infrared Light (APOD 13 Apr 2007)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
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NoelC
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Seven Dusty Sisters in Infrared Light (APOD 13 Apr 2007)

Post by NoelC » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:19 pm

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070413.html

Fantastic image!

I find it very interesting that in infrared light the dust in the region at the lower right of the APOD is shown to be hotter than the rest (assuming I'm not reading the color assignments backwards):

Image

That same area is more reddish in deep exposures in visible light as well:

Image

I had thought that perhaps the reddish color was ionized hydrogen gas, but it hadn't occurred to me that the area would be hotter as well.

I wonder, why is it hotter? It doesn't seem nearer the hot young stars than a lot of the rest of the nebula...

-Noel