Chamaeleon Dark Nebulas
			
		
		
		
			Sometimes the dark dust of interstellar space has an angular elegance. 
Such is the case toward the far-south 
constellation of Chamaeleon.
Normally too faint to see, dark dust is best known for blocking visible light from stars and galaxies behind it.
In this four-hour exposure, however, 
the dust is seen mostly in light of its own, 
with its strong red and near-infrared 
colors giving creating a brown hue.
Contrastingly blue, the bright star 
Beta Chamaeleontis 
is visible just to the right of center, with the dust that surrounds it preferentially reflecting blue light from its primarily blue-white color. 
All of the pictured stars and dust occur in our own Milky Way Galaxy with -- but one 
notable exception: the white spot just 
below Beta Chamaeleontis is the galaxy IC 3104 which lies far in the distance. 
Interstellar dust is mostly created in the cool atmospheres of 
giant stars 
and dispersed into space by stellar light, 
stellar winds, and 
stellar explosions such as 
supernovas.