Astronomy Picture of the Day
Posted By admin On October 31, 2011 @ 7:55 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
[1]Image Credit & Copyright [2]: Adam Block [3], Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter [4], University of Arizona [5]
Explanation: Spooky shapes seem to haunt this starry expanse [6], drifting through the night in the royal constellation Cepheus [7]. Of course, the shapes are cosmic dust clouds faintly visible in dimly reflected starlight. Far from your own neighborhood [8] on planet Earth, they lurk at the edge of the Cepheus Flare [9] molecular cloud complex some 1,200 light-years away. Over 2 light-years across the ghostly nebula and relatively isolated Bok globule [10], also known as vdB 141 [11] or Sh2-136 [12], is near the center of the field. The core of the dark cloud on the right is collapsing and is likely a binary star system in the early stages [13] of formation. Even so, if the spooky shapes could talk, they might well wish you a happy Halloween [14].
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URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/10/31/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-82/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/sh2136block.jpg
[2] Copyright: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
[3] Adam Block: http://www.caelumobservatory.com/index.html
[4] Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter: http://skycenter.arizona.edu/
[5] University of Arizona: http://www.as.arizona.edu/
[6] this starry expanse: http://skycenter.arizona.edu/gallery/Nebulae/SH2-136
[7] Cepheus: http://www.dibonsmith.com/cep_con.htm
[8] own neighborhood: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
[9] Cepheus Flare: http://arxiv.org/abs/0809.4761
[10] isolated Bok globule: http://arxiv.org/abs/1004.0869
[11] vdB 141: http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im1060.html
[12] Sh2-136: http://galaxymap.org/cgi-bin/details.py?id=21415&t=hii&s=4_p34.0xp31.0&name=S136
[13] early stages: http://arxiv.org/abs/0910.1894
[14] happy Halloween: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101031.html
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