A dark coil of interstellar
dust resembles a Chinese dragon as it winds across the star-forming region NGC
6559.
The dragon-like shape is an
illusion caused by cool dust that absorbs background radiation from luminous
hydrogen gas, which glows a dull red due to ionization from neighboring stars.
NGC 6559 sits about 5,000
light-years from Earth towards the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and serves
as part of an even larger star-forming region in the southern constellation Sagittarius.
The region shown in this image, obtained by the Gemini Southern Telescope at
the Gemini Observatory in Chile, can be found less than one degree from the
Lagoon Nebula.
The dark dust cloud making
up the dragon shape spans about seven light-years (diagonally) and is contains
an intricate, wispy structure determined by turbulent flow dynamics. This image
is a composite of four observations taken by the Gemini South Telescope.
-- SPACE.com Staff
Credit: Gemini Observatory/Travis Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage
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