Posted on 06/22/2024 12:55:56 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula (LDN) 1251. About 1,000 light-years away and drifting above the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, LDN 1251 is also less appetizingly known as "The Rotten Fish Nebula." The dusty molecular cloud is part of a complex of dark nebulae mapped toward the Cepheus flare region. Across the spectrum, astronomical explorations of the obscuring interstellar clouds reveal energetic shocks and outflows associated with newborn stars, including the telltale reddish glow from scattered Herbig-Haro objects hiding in the image. Distant background galaxies also lurk in the scene, almost buried behind the dusty expanse. This alluring view spans over four full moons on the sky, or 35 light-years at the estimated distance of LDN 1251.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
Spooky
Wow.
It’s fun trying to imagine what the sky would look like if we could see what the camera sees.
Would you mind explaining that in the common vernacular?
Sure! The pupils in our eyes are what let light hit our retinas. Our pupils open to a maximum of 7mm when we are young ( when we get older, they don’t open quite as much. The picture from APOD was taken with a 6” diameter lens- think of a 6” diameter pupil. The light gathered by that lens is much, much greater than what our eyes actually see, consequently, we can then see, thru a telescope, celestial objects that are invisible to our naked eyes. Not only that, but the camera used by the photographer has the ability to keep gathering light on its sensor, collecting more and more photons of light until the invisible becomes visible and the photographer processes the image in a computer.
Looks like Gandolf.........
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