Johan Bogaerts Astrophoto
The Tadpole Nebula
IC 410, aka "the Tadpole nebula",is located 12,000 lightyears from Earth in the Auriga constellation, and is nicknamed the Tadpole Nebula because of the tadpole-shaped clouds of dark dust that appear to be swimming towards the centre.
The Tadpole Nebula is a region of ionised hydrogen gas spanning over 100 lightyears across that's carved and sculpted by streams of charged particles called stellar winds emanating from open star cluster NGC 1893.
NGC 1893 is about 4 million years old, but in astronomical terms it is still very young, with hot, massive stars.
The 'tadpoles' that give the nebula its nickname are dense streams of dust and gas about 10 lightyears long, are composed of dust and gas leftover from the formation of the star cluster and are very likely to give birth to more stars in the future.
The Tadpole Nebula
IC 410, aka "the Tadpole nebula",is located 12,000 lightyears from Earth in the Auriga constellation, and is nicknamed the Tadpole Nebula because of the tadpole-shaped clouds of dark dust that appear to be swimming towards the centre.
The Tadpole Nebula is a region of ionised hydrogen gas spanning over 100 lightyears across that's carved and sculpted by streams of charged particles called stellar winds emanating from open star cluster NGC 1893.
NGC 1893 is about 4 million years old, but in astronomical terms it is still very young, with hot, massive stars.
The 'tadpoles' that give the nebula its nickname are dense streams of dust and gas about 10 lightyears long, are composed of dust and gas leftover from the formation of the star cluster and are very likely to give birth to more stars in the future.