StormEffects
Nightscapes & Deep Sky Colors
Astrophotography © Brian A. Morganti
NGC 1333 - Reflection Nebula
Complex of Dark - Reflection Nebula - Star Forming Region
Perseus
NGC 1333 is a very faint reflection nebula, dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by dust. It is located 1,000 light-years distant in the heroic constellation of Perseus. NGC 1333 lies at the edge of a large, star-forming molecular cloud which is a member of a larger complex of faint emission and dark nebulosity that are all part of the much larger Perseus OB2 molecular cloud. This image shows details of the dusty region along with hints of contrasting red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, jets and shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars. In fact, NGC 1333 contains hundreds of stars less than a million years old, most still hidden from optical telescopes by the pervasive stardust. The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun formed over 4.5 billion years ago. North is to the left of this image. IMAGE DETAILS:
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