Hot blue stars, red glowing hydrogen gas, and dark, obscuring dust clouds are strewn through this dramatic region of the Milky Way in the southern [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] constellation of Ara (the Altar) [
http://www.seds.org…]. About 4,000 light-years from Earth, the stars at the left are young, massive, and energetic. Their intense ultraviolet [
http://imagine.gsfc…] radiation is eating away at the nearby star forming cloud complex - ionizing the hydrogen gas and producing the characteristic red "hydrogen-alpha" glow [
http://www.limber.o…]. At right, visible within the dark dust nebula, is small cluster of newborn stars. This beautiful color picture [
http://www.eso.org/…] is a composite of images [
http://aibn47.astro…] made through blue, green, and hydrogen-alpha filters.
Explanation
Hot blue stars, red glowing hydrogen gas, and dark, obscuring dust clouds are strewn through this dramatic region of the Milky Way in the southern [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] constellation of Ara (the Altar) [
http://www.seds.org…]. About 4,000 light-years from Earth, the stars at the left are young, massive, and energetic. Their intense ultraviolet [
http://imagine.gsfc…] radiation is eating away at the nearby star forming cloud complex - ionizing the hydrogen gas and producing the characteristic red "hydrogen-alpha" glow [
http://www.limber.o…]. At right, visible within the dark dust nebula, is small cluster of newborn stars. This beautiful color picture [
http://www.eso.org/…] is a composite of images [
http://aibn47.astro…] made through blue, green, and hydrogen-alpha filters.
Explanation
