NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, image of a star-forming cloud of dust and gas located in the constellation
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, image of a star-forming cloud of dust and gas located in the constellation of Monoceros. The nebula, commonly referred to as Sh2-284, is relatively isolated at the very end of an outer spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. In the night sky, it's located in the opposite direction from the centre of the Milky Way. features what astronomer call 'elephant trunks.' Elephant trunks are monstrous pillars of dense gas and dust. The most famous examples of are the 'Pillars of Creation,' found in an iconic image of the Eagle nebula from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. In this WISE image, the trunks are seen as small columns of gas stretching towards the centre of the void in Sh2-284, like little green fingers with yellow fingernails. The colours used in this image represent specific wavelengths of infrared light. Blue and cyan (blue-green) represent light emitted at wavelengths of and microns, which is predominantly from stars. Green and red represent light from 12 and 22 microns, respectively, which is mostly emitted by dust.
Size: 5000px × 3500px
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Photo credit: © World History Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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