May 4, 2014 NGC 6604, an open star cluster in Serpens Cauda Image Credit: ESO NGC 6604 (the bright grouping of stars towards to the upper left of this image) is a very young open star cluster with an age of some 4-5 million years in the star-forming (H II) region Sh2-54, located about 5,540 [continue reading]
April 29, 2014 NGC 1748, an emission nebula in the LMC Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri (Observatoire de Paris, France) NGC 1748 (also known as IC 2114 and N83B) is an emission nebula of roughly 55 light-years across in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way galaxy, located some [continue reading]
April 5, 2014 The Dragonfish Nebula, an emission nebula in the Crux Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Toronto The Dragonfish Nebula, named for its resemblance to a terrifyingly toothy deep-sea fish on infrared images, is an emission nebula and star-forming region of about of 450 light-years across, located some 30,000 light-years away from Earth in [continue reading]
November 18, 2013 RCW 120, an emission nebula in Scorpius Image Credit: ESO/APEX/DSS2/SuperCosmos/Deharveng(LAM)/Zavagno(LAM) RCW 120 (also known as Sh2-3 and Gum 58) is an emission nebula, a star-forming (H II) region of about ten light-years across, located some 4,300 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Scorpius (the Scorpion), slightly above the plane [continue reading]
November 14, 2013 The North America Nebula, an emission nebula in Cygnus Image Credit & Copyright: J-P Metsävainio The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) is an emission nebula of some 130 light-years across with a shape that resembles the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico. It is located roughly 1,600 [continue reading]
November 10, 2013 The South Pillar Region of the Carina Nebula Image Credit: NASA, SSC, JPL, Caltech, Nathan Smith (Univ. of Colorado), et al. This image shows the South Pillar region of the expansive emission nebula known as the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), located between 6,500 and 10,000 light-years away from Earth in the Carina–Sagittarius [continue reading]