Young Stars, Dark Nebulae
An unassuming region
in the constellation Taurus holds
these dark and dusty nebulae.
Scattered through the scene,
stars in multiple star systems are forming within their natal
Taurus molecular cloud
complex some 450 light-years away.
Millions of years
young
and still going through stellar adolescence,
the
stars are variable in brightness and in the
late phases
of their gravitational collapse.
Known as
T-Tauri
class stars they tend to be faint and take on a yellowish hue in the image.
One of the brightest T-Tauri stars in Taurus, V773 (aka HD283447)
is near the center of the telescopic frame that spans over 1 degree.
Toward the top is the dense,
dark marking
on the sky cataloged as Barnard 209.