Starship Asterisk*

Chamaeleon I Molecular Cloud

Explanation: Dark markings and bright nebulae in this telescopic southern sky view are telltale signs of young stars and active star formation. They lie a mere 650 light-years away, at the boundary of the local bubble and the Chamaeleon molecular cloud complex. Regions with young stars identified as dusty reflection nebulae from the 1946 Cederblad catalog include the C-shaped Ced 110 just above and left of center, and bluish Ced 111 below it. Also a standout in the frame, the orange tinted V-shape of the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula (Cha IRN) was carved by material streaming from a newly formed low-mass star. The well-composed image spans 1.5 degrees. That's about 17 light-years at the estimated distance of the nearby Chamaeleon I molecular cloud.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

Today's APOD reminds me of the APOD of January 17, 2022, which also featured clouds of Chameleon.

I found this image by Gerald Wechselberger to link the two APODs. Note Epsilon Chameleon at left, and Cederblad 110 and 111 at upper right:



Ann

Seems to be a dangerous area regarding the weather, with many cosmic tornados

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070811.html
https://www.flickr.com/photos/geckzilla/6963253086

A pretty photo! Am curious about it's name!

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 1:15 pm Chamaeleon_RobertEder.jpg

A pretty photo! Am curious about it's name!

In his star atlas of 1603, Johann Bayer sketched the Chamaeleon constellation based on descriptions by early sailors to the southern seas. It is bounded to the east by the constellation Musca (the fly). Bayer could see that the fly was being eaten by a "chamaeleon", hence the origin of the name.