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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.
Dark Cloud
Explanation: Ominously foreshadowing events to come, a dark cloud of obscuring dust stands out against a luminous star field in the Milky Way . Cataloged as Feitzinger and Stuwe object “1-457” this fuliginous interstellar nebula is relatively close - possibly only 1,000 light-years distant. Near its core it is dense enough to block almost all of the light from the numerous, more distant stars visible toward the galactic center region . In addition to dust grains , dark nebulae which abound in the plane of our Galaxy are likely to contain interstellar gas and represent potential raw material for future star formation.
| Date | February 26, 1999 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: Two Micron All Sky Survey Project (IPAC / U. Mass.) |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |