APOD 4.3

April 16th, 2011                                               The Tadpoles of IC 410

This photograph is a false coloring of the otherwise very faint and hardly noticeable IC 410 Emission Nebula.  In the upper left corner are the two tadpole inhabitants of the Nebula made up of cosmic dust and gas.  The false coloring was taken by using both broad and narrow band filters, the narrow tracing atoms in the nebula and providing the vivid coloring depending on the element of the atom.  The Nebula itself surrounds NGC 1893 which is a very young galactic cluster of stars.  This cluster energizes the glowing gas that surrounds it providing for the features of the tadpoles due to wind and radiation from the cluster stars.  The tadpoles are about 10 light-years long and are composed of very dense and cool gas. It is prospected that these may be the locations of ongoing star formation. The Nebula itself lies 12,000 light-years away in the constellation Auriga.