                        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.

                                2024 June 14

                                   RCW 85
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh

   Explanation: From the 1960 astronomical catalog of Rodgers, Campbell
   and Whiteoak, emission region RCW 85 shines in southern night skies
   between bright stars Alpha and Beta Centauri. About 5,000 light years
   distant, the hazy interstellar cloud of glowing hydrogen gas and dust
   is faint. But detailed structures along well-defined rims within RCW 85
   are traced in this cosmic skyscape composed of 28 hours of narrow and
   broadband exposures. Suggestive of dramatic shapes in other stellar
   nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are sculpted by energetic
   winds and radiation from newborn stars, the tantalizing nebula has been
   called the Devil's Tower. This telescopic frame would span around 100
   light-years at the estimated distance of RCW 85.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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