The Dark Seahorse in Cepheus
Image Credit &
Copyright:
Jeff Herman
Spanning light-years, this
suggestive shape known as the Seahorse Nebula
appears in silhouette against a rich, luminous background of stars.
Seen toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus,
the dusty, obscuring clouds are part of a Milky Way
molecular cloud some 1,200 light-years distant.
It is also listed as Barnard 150 (B150), one of 182
dark markings of the sky
cataloged in the early 20th century by astronomer
E. E. Barnard.
Packs of low mass stars are forming
within,
but their collapsing cores are only visible at long
infrared wavelengths.
Still, the colorful stars of Cepheus add to this
pretty, galactic skyscape.