October 31, 2011
Long before your first heartbeat, stars were busy forging the elements you would one day call your own.
Ghost of the Cepheus Flare
Birthday · October 31, 2011
A little universe, just for you
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Ready to give.
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APOD published October 31, 2011. Credit: Adam Block. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Spooky shapes seem to haunt this starry expanse, drifting through the night in the royal constellation Cepheus. Of course, the shapes are cosmic dust clouds faintly visible in dimly reflected starlight. Far from your own neighborhood on planet Earth, they lurk at the edge of the Cepheus Flare molecular cloud complex some 1,200 light-years away. Over 2 light-years across the ghostly nebula and relatively isolated Bok globule, also known as vdB 141 or Sh2-136, is near the center of the field. The core of the dark cloud on the right is collapsing and is likely a binary star system in the early stages of formation. Even so, if the spooky shapes could talk, they might well wish you a happy Halloween.
Image credit: Adam Block