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                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2024 August 22

                         The Dark Tower in Scorpius
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby

   Explanation: In silhouette against a crowded star field along the tail
   of the arachnological constellation Scorpius, this dusty cosmic cloud
   evokes for some the image of an ominous dark tower. In fact, monstrous
   clumps of dust and molecular gas collapsing to form stars may well lurk
   within the dark nebula, a structure that spans almost 40 light-years
   across this gorgeous telescopic portrait. A cometary globule, the
   swept-back cloud is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the OB
   association of very hot stars in NGC 6231, off the upper right corner
   of the scene. That energetic ultraviolet light also powers the
   globule's bordering reddish glow of hydrogen gas. Hot stars embedded in
   the dust can be seen as bluish reflection nebulae. This dark tower and
   associated nebulae are about 5,000 light-years away.

            Growing Gallery: Moon Eclipses Saturn in August 2024
                      Tomorrow's picture: a dark pulsar
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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