Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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 January 12 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Stars and Dust in Corona Australis Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]CHART32 Team, Processing - [5]Johannes Schedler Explanation: Cosmic dust clouds and young, energetic stars inhabit [6]this telescopic vista, less than 500 light-years away toward the northern boundary of [7]Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. The dust clouds effectively [8]block light from more distant background stars in the [9]Milky Way. But the striking complex of reflection nebulae cataloged as [10]NGC 6726, 6727, and IC 4812 produce a characteristic blue color as light from the region's young hot stars is [11]reflected by the cosmic dust. The dust [12]also obscures from view stars [13]still in the process of formation. At the left, smaller yellowish nebula NGC 6729 bends around young variable star [14]R Coronae Australis. Just below it, glowing arcs and loops shocked by outflows from embedded newborn stars are identified as [15]Herbig-Haro objects. On the sky this field of view spans about 1 degree. That corresponds to almost 9 [16]light-years at the estimated distance of the nearby star forming region. Video: [17]Best of APOD 2019 for the Night Sky Network Tomorrow's picture: desert eclipse __________________________________________________________________ [18]< | [19]Archive | [20]Submissions | [21]Index | [22]Search | [23]Calendar | [24]RSS | [25]Education | [26]About APOD | [27]Discuss | [28]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [29]Robert Nemiroff ([30]MTU) & [31]Jerry Bonnell ([32]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [33]Specific rights apply. [34]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [35]ASD at [36]NASA / [37]GSFC & [38]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2001/NGC6726_Schedler_3400.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. http://chart32.de/index.php/group 5. http://panther-observatory.com/ 6. http://www.chart32.de/index.php/component/k2/item/140 7. http://www.botproductions.com/stellar/corona_australis.html 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090425.html 9. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/285/the-milky-way-galaxy/ 10. http://www.chart32.de/images/objects/nebulae/NGC6726/NGC6726_13_chart.jpg 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap011228.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap031226.html 13. https://arxiv.org/abs/1211.6945 14. http://www.solstation.com/stars/r-coraus.htm 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151218.html 16. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html 17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9yblbiKyNA&feature=youtu.be&t=1 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200111.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 22. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 27. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200112 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200113.html 29. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 30. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 31. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 32. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 34. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 35. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 36. https://www.nasa.gov/ 37. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 38. http://www.mtu.edu/