October 15, 2010
On your birthday, photons that left distant stars before humans walked the Earth finally completed their journey. You began yours.
Vista with NGC 2170
Birthday · October 15, 2010
A little universe, just for you
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APOD published October 15, 2010. Credit: ESO. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Drifting through the one-horned constellation Monoceros, these dusty streamers and new born stars are part of the active Monoceros R2 star-forming region, embedded in a giant molecular cloud. The cosmic scene was recorded by the VISTA survey telescope in near-infrared light. Visible light images show dusty NGC 2170, seen here just right of center, as a complex of bluish reflection nebulae. But this penetrating near-infrared view reveals telltale signs of ongoing star formation and massive young stars otherwise hidden by the dust. Energetic winds and radiation from the hot young stars reshape the natal interstellar clouds. Close on the sky to the star-forming Orion Nebula, the Monoceros R2 region is almost twice as far away, about 2700 light-years distant. At that distance, this vista spans about 80 light-years.
Image credit: ESO