                APOD: 2018 June 26 - Dark Nebulas across Taurus

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                 2018 June 26
                                      [2]
                          Dark Nebulas across Taurus
    Image Processing & Copyright: Oliver Czernetz [3]  - Data: Digitized Sky
                            Survey [4]  (POSS-II)

Explanation: Sometimes even the dark dust of interstellar space has a serene
beauty. One such place occurs toward the constellation of Taurus. The
filaments featured here [5]  can be found on the sky between [6]  the Pleiades
star cluster [7]  and the California Nebula [8] . This dust is not known not
for its bright glow but for its absorption and opaqueness. Several bright
stars are visible with their blue light seen reflecting [9]  off the brown
dust. Other stars [10]  appear unusually red as their light barely peaks
through a column of dark dust, with red the color that remains after the blue
is scattered [11]  away. Yet other stars are behind dust pillars [12]  so
thick they are not visible here. Although appearing serene [13] , the scene is
actually an ongoing loop of tumult and rebirth. This is because massive enough
knots of gas and dust will gravitationally collapse [14] to form new stars --
stars that both create new dust [15] in their atmospheres and destroy old dust
with their energetic light and winds [16] .

                Tomorrow's picture: summer sky highlights [17]

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [29] (MTU [30] ) & Jerry Bonnell [31]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1806/DarkNebulas_POSS2Czernetz_2000.jpg
  [3] mailto: oliver dot czernetz at gmail dot com
  [4] http://archive.stsci.edu/dss/copyright.html
  [5] https://www.astrobin.com/321989/B/
  [6] ap150128.html
  [7] ap150617.html
  [8] ap160112.html
  [9] https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_701.html
  [10]
http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/how-do-stars-form-and-evolve/
  [11] http://scijinks.jpl.nasa.gov/blue-sky/
  [12] ap120722.html
  [13]
https://www.globalanimal.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/
Home-alone-dog-destroys-toilet-paper.jpg
  [14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbdwTwB8jtc
  [15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_dust#Dust_grain_formation
  [16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_wind
  [17] ap180627.html
  [18] ap180625.html
  [19] archivepix.html
  [20] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [21] lib/aptree.html
  [22] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [23] calendar/allyears.html
  [24] /apod.rss
  [25] lib/edlinks.html
  [26] lib/about_apod.html
  [27] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180626
  [28] ap180627.html
  [29] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [30] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [31] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [32] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [33] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [34] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [35] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
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