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This dusty region is probably associated with the brighter and better-known Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae which are nearby in the sky and part of the same molecular cloud. The soft red glow of fluorescent hydrogen is evidence that there are young hot stars associated with the dusty clouds. These bright stars also illuminate the tiny solid particles, producing blue reflection nebulae bordering some of the emission regions. The dust is also evident in silhouette, both as sinuous dark lanes winding through the luminous gas and as the dark patches obscuring the ancient, yellow stars that populate the central parts of the Milky Way.
Image and text copyright © Anglo-Australian Observatory/Royal Observatory Edinburgh. All rights reserved. Photograph by David Malin. |
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