The dark nebula predominant at the lower left of the above photograph is known as the Pipe Nebula. The dark clouds, suggestively shaped like smoke rising from a pipe, are caused by absorption of background starlight by dust [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. These dust clouds can be traced all the way to the Rho Ophiuchi nebular clouds [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] on the right. The brightest star in the field is Antares [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Many types of nebula are highlighted here: the red are emission nebula [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], the blue are reflection nebula [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and the dark are absorption nebula [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. This picture has been digitally enhanced [
http://www.astropix…].
Explanation
The dark nebula predominant at the lower left of the above photograph is known as the Pipe Nebula. The dark clouds, suggestively shaped like smoke rising from a pipe, are caused by absorption of background starlight by dust [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. These dust clouds can be traced all the way to the Rho Ophiuchi nebular clouds [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] on the right. The brightest star in the field is Antares [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Many types of nebula are highlighted here: the red are emission nebula [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], the blue are reflection nebula [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and the dark are absorption nebula [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. This picture has been digitally enhanced [
http://www.astropix…].
Explanation
