Stars
and Dust in Corona Australis
From
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
Cosmic
dust clouds and young, energetic stars inhabit this telescopic
vista, less than 500 light-years away toward the northern boundary of Corona
Australis, the Southern Crown.
The
dust clouds effectively block
light from more distant background stars in the Milky Way. But the
striking complex of reflection nebulae cataloged as NGC
6726, 6727, and IC 4812 produce a characteristic blue color as light
from the region's young hot stars is reflected by the cosmic
dust.
The
dust also obscures from
view stars still in the process of
formation. At the left, smaller yellowish nebula NGC 6729 bends around young
variable star R
Coronae Australis.
Just
below it, glowing arcs and loops shocked by outflows from embedded newborn
stars are identified as Herbig-Haro
objects.
On
the sky this field of view spans about 1 degree. That corresponds to almost 9
light-years at the estimated distance of the nearby star forming region.
Image Credit & Copyright: CHART32 Team, Processing - Johannes Schedler