Starship Asterisk*

Along the Taurus Molecular Cloud

Explanation: The cosmic brush of star formation composed this interstellar canvas of emission, dust, and dark nebulae. A 5 degree wide telescopic mosaic, it frames a region found north of bright star Aldebaran on the sky, at an inner wall of the local bubble along the Taurus molecular cloud. At lower left, emission cataloged as Sh2-239 shows signs of embedded young stellar objects. The region's Herbig-Haro objects, nebulosities associated with newly born stars, are marked by tell-tale reddish jets of shocked hydrogen gas. Above and right T Tauri, the prototype of the class of T Tauri variable stars, is next to a yellowish nebula historically known as Hind's Variable Nebula (NGC 1555). T Tauri stars are now generally recognized as young, less than a few million years old, sun-like stars still in the early stages of formation.

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APOD Robot wrote: Above and right T Tauri, the prototype of the class of T Tauri variable stars, is next to a yellowish nebula historically known as Hind's Variable Nebula (NGC 1555).

For a numbskull person like me, those instructions were not too clear. But I guess this is it:


Ann

Ann wrote: ↑Thu Nov 23, 2023 5:52 am
For a numbskull person like me, those instructions were not too clear.

Ann

Indeed, I was looking for the T Tauri star, thinking it was the bright one at top center. But that didn’t seem to make much sense. Had to look very closely at the full image to find the actual T Tauri. Thanks for your clarification!

Yeah, as others have already opined, the location of T Tauri was far from clearly stated in this APOD. Oh how a little tell-tale annotation would have helped! And many Thanksgiving Day (here in the U.S.) thanks to Ann for providing it (as she often does)!

Isn't Sh2-239 classed as a reflection nebula?

starsurfer wrote: ↑Thu Nov 23, 2023 10:42 pm Isn't Sh2-239 classed as a reflection nebula?

No, it's an emission nebula. Embedded in a dark nebula.