October 31, 2012

Ghost of the Cepheus Flare


Spooky shapes seem to haunt this starry expanse, drifting through the night in the royal constellation Cepheus. Of course, the shapes are cosmic dust clouds faintly visible in dimly reflected starlight. Far from your own neighborhood on planet Earth, they lurk at the edge of the Cepheus Flare molecular cloud complex some 1,200 light-years away. Over 2 light-years across the ghostly nebula and relatively isolated Bok globule, also known as vdB 141 or Sh2-136, is near the center of the field. The core of the dark cloud on the right is collapsing and is likely a binary star system in the early stages of formation. Even so, if the spooky shapes could talk, they might well wish you a happy Halloween.

Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block
Explanation from: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111031.html

3 comments:

  1. Imagens encantadoras e de grande beleza.

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  2. 2 light years across. The universe is wonderful...

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  3. Cepheus Flare

    I am old,
    But Patiently,
    over millions of years,
    And light years wide
    Without blood or tears
    I grew my wings.

    No-one died
    Across my divide
    And no-one sighed
    Past dusty rings
    Newly detected
    So dimly reflected
    By a hesitant light.

    So why does Man
    Only newly here
    engineer

    fear

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