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Hydrogen and Dust in the Rosette Nebula Credit: Nick Wright (University College London), IPHAS Collaboration Explanation: At the edge of a large molecular cloud in Monoceros, some 3,000 light years away, dark filaments of dust are silhouetted by luminous hydrogen gas. The close up view of the Rosette Nebula dramatically suggests that star formation is an on going process in the region, with dark filaments sculpted by winds and radiation from hot, young stars. Ultraviolet radiation from the young stars also strips electrons from the surrounding hydrogen atoms. As electrons and atoms recombine they emit longer wavelength, lower energy...

Hubble Makes Mosaic of 10,000 Galaxies Thu Jan 8, 1:06 PM ET By Deborah Zabarenko ATLANTA (Reuters) - The newest camera on the Hubble Space Telescope has created an unprecedented image of a huge hunk of the sky, including at least 10,000 galaxies, which could help determine how our own Milky Way evolved, astronomers said on Thursday. The new mosaic is the largest color image ever made by the orbiting telescope, covering an area of the sky about the apparent size of the full moon. This may not sound big, but it is 150 times the size of images made...