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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.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

Streaming Dark Nebulas near B44

Explanation: Dark dust lit by the bright yellow star Antares highlight this photogenic starscape of the southern sky. A wider angle image shows the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy connected to Antares by streams of dust knows as the Dark River . At the head of the Dark River the dust appears in dense knots. One of the densest knots is B44 , pictured near the bottom of the above image. Off to the left of the above image lies Antares, a star so bright that the pictured dust reflects its light, giving it a distinct yellow hue. Light from the blue star on the image left creates a surrounding blue reflection nebula named IC 4605 . B44 and IC 4605 lies about 500 light years distant toward the constellation of the Scorpion .

Date June 15, 2009
Credit Credit & Copyright: Thomas V. Davis ( tvdavisastropix.com )
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.