Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2020 March 5

                     The Light, the Dark, and the Dusty
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Casey Good

   Explanation: This colorful skyscape spans about four full moons across
   nebula rich starfields along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy in the
   royal northern constellation Cepheus. Near the edge of the region's
   massive molecular cloud some 2,400 light-years away, bright reddish
   emission region Sharpless (Sh) 155 is left of center, also known as the
   Cave Nebula. About 10 light-years across the cosmic cave's bright walls
   of gas are ionized by ultraviolet light from the hot young stars around
   it. Dusty blue reflection nebulae, like vdB 155 at lower right, and
   dense obscuring clouds of dust also abound on the interstellar canvas.
   Astronomical explorations have revealed other dramatic signs of star
   formation, including the bright red fleck of Herbig-Haro (HH) 168.
   Below center in the frame, the Herbig-Haro object emission is generated
   by energetic jets from a newborn star.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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