                        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.

                              2022 November 15

                             Wolf's Cave Nebula
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Gianni Lacroce

   Explanation: The mysterious blue reflection nebula found in catalogs as
   VdB 152 or Ced 201 really is very faint. It lies at the tip of the long
   dark nebula Barnard 175 in a dusty complex that has also been called
   Wolf's Cave. At the center of this deep telescopic view, the cosmic
   apparitions are nearly 1,400 light-years away along the northern Milky
   Way in the royal constellation Cepheus. Interstellar dust in the region
   blocks light from background stars and scatters light from the embedded
   bright star, giving the end nebula its characteristic blue color.
   Though stars do form in molecular clouds, this star seems to have only
   accidentally wandered into the area, as its measured velocity through
   space is very different from the cloud's velocity. At the image bottom
   is the planetary nebula Dengel-Hartl 5, while red glowing gas from an
   ancient supernova remnant is also visible along the image's right side.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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