Astronomy Picture of the Day 10-02-02

NASA ^ | 10-02-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 October 2

Star Clouds Toward the Southern Crown
Credit & Copyright: David Malin, UK Schmidt Telescope, AAO

Explanation: The flowing trails of dust toward Corona Australis, the constellation of the Southern Crown, are visible here because not because they glow, but because they absorb and reflect. The dust appears bluer when seen near bright stars because it preferentially reflects blue light. The densest knots of dust are so thick that no background stars or interior stars can be seen through them. These knots indicate molecular clouds filled with cool gas where future stars will likely form. The above image spans about 5 degrees while the reflection nebula lies about 500 light-years distant.

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Fun Fact:

The 1.2 meter UK Schmidt Telescope is located in Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wide-field instrument which was designed to photograph 6.6 by 6.6 degree areas of the sky onto plates measuring 14 by 14 inches.

Far southern skies are still less-known overall than their northern counterparts. Visual goodies await!

[petuniasevan]

[Freedom2specul8]

That is SO PRETTY!

[MeekOneGOP]

[BossyRoofer]

Great picture! My daughter loves APOD, and ask so many questions I to have become addicted! Great work!

[RightWhale]

Did they say molecular clouds? If so, then there would be a call for chemists. Astronomy is fine as a discipline, but already there are biologists, chemists, physicists, all kinds of engineers, and lawyers working on what used to be mainly astronomy, naming stars.

[sistergoldenhair]

Wow! Very nice.

[firewalk]

Very pretty picture, thank you!

[sleavelessinseattle]

Bump for Down Underlings!