The image above shows almost magical stars about 3,000 light years away in a less than magically named NGC 7822, brought to you by NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer. Here is
NASA's description:
Hot, young stars and cosmic pillars of gas and dust
seem to crowd into NGC 7822.
At the edge of a giant
molecular cloud toward the northern
constellation
Cepheus, this glowing star forming region
lies about 3,000 light-years away.
Within the nebula, bright edges and complex dust sculptures
dominate this
detailed skyscape
taken in
infrared light by NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer
(WISE) satellite.
The atomic emission by the cluster's gas is
powered by energetic radiation from
the hot stars, whose powerful
winds and light also sculpt
and erode the denser pillar shapes.
Stars could still be forming
inside the pillars by gravitational collapse, but as the pillars are
eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cut off from their
reservoir of
star stuff.
This field spans around 40
light-years at the estimated distance of
NGC 7822.
Image Credit:
WISE,
IRSA,
NASA;
Processing & Copyright :
Francesco Antonucci
