NGC 6188: Dragons of Ara

NGC 6188: Dragons of Ara

Image Credit & Copyright:
Carlos Taylor

Explanation:
Do dragons fight on the altar of the sky?

Although it might appear that way, these dragons are
illusions
made of thin gas and dust.

The emission nebula
NGC 6188, home to the glowing clouds, is found about 4,000
light years away near the edge of a
large molecular cloud, unseen at visible wavelengths, in the southern
constellation
Ara (the Altar).

Massive, young
stars of the embedded Ara
OB1 association
were formed in that region only a few million years ago,
sculpting the dark shapes and
powering the nebular glow with stellar winds and intense
ultraviolet radiation.

The recent
star formation itself was likely triggered by
winds and supernova explosions from previous generations of massive
stars,
that swept up and compressed the molecular gas.

This
impressively detailed
image
spans over 2 degrees (four full Moons), corresponding to
over 150 light years at the estimated distance
of NGC 6188.