Sifting through Dust near Orion’s Belt (mouseover comparison)

Cosmic dust clouds in Messier 78
Orion's Belt
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These images are of the region around Messier 78. When seen in visible light, this region is a reflection nebula, meaning that we see the pale blue glow of starlight reflected from clouds of dust. Submillimetre-wavelength APEX observations are overlaid on the visible-light image in orange. They reveal the faint heat glow of dense cold clumps of cosmic dust, some of which are even colder than -250ºC.

In visible light, this dust is dark and obscuring. One filament seen by APEX appears in visible light as a dark lane of dust cutting across Messier 78. This tells us that the dense dust lies in front of the reflection nebula, blocking its bluish light. Another prominent region of glowing dust seen by APEX overlaps with the visible light from Messier 78 at its lower edge. The lack of a corresponding dark dust lane in visible light tells us that this dense dust must lie behind the reflection nebula.

Credit

ESO/APEX (MPIfR/ESO/OSO)/T. Stanke et al./Igor Chekalin/Digitized Sky Survey 2

About the Image Comparison

Id:eso1219a
Release date:2 May 2012, 12:00
Related releases:eso1219

Images

Cosmic dust clouds in Messier 78
Cosmic dust clouds in Messier 78
Orion's Belt
Orion's Belt