ooh la la

This is taken directly from APOD (August 11, 2005).

Young suns still lie within dusty NGC 7129, some 3,000 light-years away toward the royal
constellationCepheus. While these stars are at a relatively tender age, only about a million years old, it is likely hat our own Sun formed in a similar stellar nursery some five billion years ago.

Most noticeable in the striking image are the lovely bluish dust clouds that reflect the youthful starlight, but the smaller, deep red crescent shapes are also markers of energetic,
young stellar objects. Known as Herbig-Haro objects, their shape and color is
characteristic of glowing hydrogen gas shocked by jets streaming away from newborn stars.

Ultimately the natal gas and dust in the region will be dispersed, the stars drifting apart as the loose cluster orbits the center of the Galaxy. NGC 7129 is about 10 light-years across.

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Its been a while since I've had the chance get any observing in. Since June, as a matter of fact. Although, the urge to do so is getting hard to ignore. I happened to see Mercury on my run this morning, just before sunrise. I just might get out for a little bit at the house. I doubt that I'll be able to trek out to CHR, but ya never know.

Stranger things have certainly happened.