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The dust lanes in Messier 16 (NGC 6611)

auteur: Anglo-Australian Observatory/David Malin Images/Novapix

référence: a-neb66-11008

Image Size 300 DPI: 40 * 51 cm

There are few clearer examples anywhere of the intimate relationship between dust, gas and young stars than M16. We see a young cluster of stars (NGC 6611) which formed about 2 million years ago, illuminating a cloud of hydrogen gas. The gas is also dusty, and in places the dust is dense enough to prevent starlight from reaching the gas and making it glow with its distinctive red hue. The luminous hydrogen provides a vivid background against which are seen numerous dark lanes and discrete globules of dust. Many of the dusty clouds are edged with bright rims which indicate the direction of the exciting stars and point to the cluster as the energising source.  

Keywords for this photo:

1986 - AAO - ASTRONOMY - DIFFUSE NEBULA - EAGLE - EMISSION NEBULA - IC 4703 - M16 - MASSIVE STAR - NEBULA - NGC 6611 - O STAR - OPEN CLUSTER - POSTER - SERPENS - SIDING SPRING - STAR - STAR CLUSTER - YOUNG STAR -