Free Republic 2nd Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $25,322
31%  
Woo hoo!! And we're now over 31%!! Thank you all very much!! God bless.

Keyword: vdb152

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day -- VdB 152: A Ghost in Cepheus

    10/31/2012 2:52:49 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 4 replies
    NASA ^ | October 31, 2012 | (see photo credit)
    Explanation: Described as a "dusty curtain" or "ghostly apparition", mysterious reflection nebula VdB 152 really is very faint. Far from your neighborhood on this Halloween Night, the cosmic phantom is nearly 1,400 light-years away. Also catalogued as Ced 201, it lies along the northern Milky Way in the royal constellation Cepheus. Near the edge of a large molecular cloud, pockets of interstellar dust in the region block light from background stars or scatter light from the embedded bright star giving parts of the nebula a characteristic blue color. Ultraviolet light from the star is also thought to cause a dim...