Star-Forming Regions, Sharpless 254 through 258
The galactic HII regions Sharpless 254 through 258, covering ' ? ' on the sky. The molecular cloud associated with Sharpless 254 through 258 is an active, ongoing star formation location. This cloud is part of the larger Gem OB1 complex. These regions of ionized gas are at a distance of 28150 light years) rom us and are located near the Galactic anti-center. T. A complex of nebulosity is seen in the 2MASS image. The bright blue, hot ionizing stars in the HII regions are surrounded by bluish reflection nebulae (dust scattering the stars' blue light). Also seen throughout the field and, particularly, in the central cluster of Sharpless 255 are a large number of infrared bright, reddish, presumably high-mass young stars and stellar objects, still embedded in the cloud. A number of OH and H20 masers are also associated with these regions, indicating recent and ongoing star formation. These data are part of the Spring 1999 data release.
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Keywords: 1990s, 2, 1999, 20th, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 2mass, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, body, celestial, century, cloud, complex, cosmic, deep, emission, formation, gem, heavenly, ii, interstellar, nebula, nebulae, nursery, ob1, object, project, region, regions, science, sharpless, sky, space, star, star-forming, stellar
