Starship Asterisk*

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080914.html

The Heart and Soul Nebulas have been featured before, but today it struck me that the right side (west?) has far fewer stars than the rest of the field. Could that be dark dust obscuring many stars in that region?

It sure looks like it,unless there's just fewer stars in that one spot(which is less likely than the dark matter)

There are large ammounts of Blue Reflection Nebulae in the area which could indicate Dust. The stars do seem to drop off in this region by about 50%

To get a better overview of this region, see APOD 31-dec-2007, Hearth and Soul and Holmes.