by APOD Robot » Thu Dec 12, 2019 5:05 am
Decorating the Sky
Explanation: Bright stars, clouds of dust and glowing nebulae
decorate this cosmic scene, a skyscape just north of
Orion's belt. Close to the plane of our
Milky Way galaxy, the wide field view spans about 5.5 degrees. Striking
bluish M78, a reflection nebula, is on the right. M78's tint is due to dust preferentially reflecting the
blue light of hot, young stars. In colorful contrast, the red sash of glowing hydrogen gas sweeping through the center is part of the region's faint but
extensive emission nebula known as
Barnard's Loop. At lower left, a dark dust cloud forms a prominent silhouette cataloged as
LDN 1622. While M78 and the complex Barnard's Loop are some 1,500 light-years away, LDN 1622 is likely to be much closer, only about 500 light-years distant from our fair planet Earth.
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191212.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_191212.jpg[/img] [size=150]Decorating the Sky[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Bright stars, clouds of dust and glowing nebulae [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090411.html]decorate[/url] this cosmic scene, a skyscape just north of [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap171123.html]Orion's belt[/url]. Close to the plane of our [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191010.html]Milky Way[/url] galaxy, the wide field view spans about 5.5 degrees. Striking [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190308.html]bluish M78[/url], a reflection nebula, is on the right. M78's tint is due to dust preferentially reflecting the [url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/messier-78]blue light[/url] of hot, young stars. In colorful contrast, the red sash of glowing hydrogen gas sweeping through the center is part of the region's faint but [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101023.html]extensive emission nebula[/url] known as [url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1894PA......2..151B/abstract] Barnard's Loop[/url]. At lower left, a dark dust cloud forms a prominent silhouette cataloged as [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190202.html]LDN 1622[/url]. While M78 and the complex Barnard's Loop are some 1,500 light-years away, LDN 1622 is likely to be much closer, only about 500 light-years distant from our fair planet Earth.
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