Nebula (cloud of dust) composed from data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope using the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) and the Multiband Imaging Photome

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Nebula (cloud of dust) composed from data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope using the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) and the Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS). The bright region at the tip of the nebula is dust that has been heated by the stars' radiation, which creates the surrounding red glow. The massive stars illuminating this region belong to a star cluster that extends above the white spot. At left, a dark filament runs horizontally through the green cloud. A smattering of young stars (red and yellow dots) appear inside it. Known as Cepheus C, the area is a particularly dense concentration of gas and dust where infant stars form. It is about 6 light-years long, and is about 40 light-years from the tip of the nebula. The small, red hourglass shape just below Cepheus C is V374 Ceph, a massive star that may be surrounded by a nearly edge-on disk of dark, dusty material. The dark cones extending to the right and left of the star are a shadow of that disk.

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Size: 8000px × 3464px
Photo credit: © NASA/JPL-CALTECH/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, artwork, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, cassiopeia, ceph, cepheus, forming, gas, glow, hot, illustration, infrared, ir, massive, mips, nebula, radiation, red, space, spitzer, star, stars, telescope, v374, young