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Credit & Copyright: Timothy Martin
Explanation:
Young suns still lie
within dusty NGC 7129,
some 3,000 light-years away toward the royal constellation
Cepheus.
While these stars
are at a relatively tender age, only a few million years old, it is
likely that our own Sun formed in a similar stellar nursery around
five billion years ago.
Notable in
the sharp image are the lovely bluish dust clouds
that reflect the youthful starlight.
But the compact, deep red crescent shapes are also markers
of energetic, young stellar objects.
Known as
Herbig-Haro
objects, their shape and color are characteristic of glowing hydrogen gas
shocked by
jets streaming away from newborn stars.
Paler, extended filaments of
reddish emission
mingling with the bluish
clouds are caused by dust grains effectively converting the
invisible ultraviolet starlight to visible red light through
photoluminesence.
Ultimately the natal gas and dust in the region
will be dispersed, the
stars
drifting apart as the loose
cluster orbits the center of the Galaxy.
At the estimated distance of NGC 7129, this telescopic field of view spans
nearly 40 light-years.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: star formation
Publications with words: star formation
See also:
- APOD: 2025 December 28 Á NGC 1898: Globular Cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud
- NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe
- APOD: 2025 October 21 Á IC 1805: The Heart Nebula
- APOD: 2025 December 9 Á The Heart of the Soul Nebula
- APOD: 2025 July 10 Á Lynds Dark Nebula 1251
- APOD: 2025 June 23 Á W5: Pillars of Star Formation
- APOD: 2025 April 28 Á Gum 37 and the Southern Tadpoles