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APOD
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.
Hot Stars in the Southern Milky Way
Explanation: Hot blue stars, red glowing hydrogen gas, and dark, obscuring dust clouds are strewn through this dramatic region of the Milky Way in the southern constellation of Ara (the Altar) . About 4,000 light-years from Earth, the stars at the left are young, massive, and energetic. Their intense ultraviolet radiation is eating away at the nearby star forming cloud complex - ionizing the hydrogen gas and producing the characteristic red “hydrogen-alpha” glow . At right, visible within the dark dust nebula, is small cluster of newborn stars. This beautiful color picture is a composite of images made through blue, green, and hydrogen-alpha filters.
| Date | December 22, 2001 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: WFI , European Southern Observatory |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |