Star
Formation in the Tadpole Nebula
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
Dusty
emission in the Tadpole nebula, IC 410, lies about 12,000 light-years away in
the northern constellation Auriga.
‘The
cloud of glowing gas is over 100 light-years across, sculpted by stellar winds and
radiation from embedded open star cluster NGC 1893.
Formed in the
interstellar cloud a mere 4
million years ago, bright cluster stars are seen all around the star-forming
nebula.
Notable
near the image center are two relatively dense streamers of material trailing
away from the nebula's central regions. Potentially sites of ongoing star
formation in IC 410, these cosmic tadpole shapes
are about 10 light-years long.
The featured image was
taken in infrared light by
NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite.
