Thursday, January 27, 2011

Art in space

The blue star near the center of this image is Zeta Ophiuchi. When seen in visible light, it looks like a relatively dim star, surrounded by other dim stars and no dust. However, in this infrared image taken with NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, a completely different view emerges. Zeta Ophiuchi is actually a very massive, hot, bright blue star plowing its way through a large cloud of interstellar dust and gas. Article here

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