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Credit & Copyright: Lorand Fenyes
Explanation:
Clouds of stardust drift through this deep skyscape.
The cosmic scene spans nearly 2 degrees across the Perseus molecular
cloud some 850 light-years away.
A triangle of dusty nebulae
reflecting light from embedded stars
is captured in the telescopic field of view.
With a characteristic bluish color
reflection nebula NGC 1333 is at left,
vdB13 at bottom right, and rare yellowish reflection nebula
vdB12 lies at the top.
Stars are forming
in the Perseus molecular cloud, though most
are obscured at visible wavelengths by the pervasive dust.
Still, hints of contrasting red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, the
jets and shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars,
are evident
in NGC 1333.
At the estimated distance of the molecular cloud, legs of the triangle
formed by the reflection nebulae would be about 20 light-years long.
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Perseus - molecular cloud
Publications with words: Perseus - molecular cloud
See also: