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This spectacular reflection nebula is the result of a few bright stars caught up in a large, dusty cloud. If that is all there was here, this region would be considered to be like the Pleiades, an accidental association of dust and stars. However, there are features here that show the dark cloud to be an active star forming nebula, though most of the action is hidden from view. The peculiar yellowish curved streak near the two bright reflection nebulae surround an intriguing object best seen in infrared light, R CrA, a young star still accreting interstellar material on to its surface. It seems to be the source of two compact but distinctly red patches which are Herbig-Haro objects, often the first visible signs of star formation occurring deep inside dark clouds. These compact nebulae are ejected from proto-stars during the later stages of star formation and sometimes appear in pairs, moving in opposite directions from the hidden star forming region. The R CrA complex is about 420 light years distant, one of the nearest star-forming regions.
Image and text copyright © Anglo-Australian Observatory. All rights reserved. Photograph by David Malin. |
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