Taurus Molecular Cloud

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Taurus Molecular Cloud
Taurus Molecular Cloud
Dark Nebulae and Star Formation in Taurus
Young Stars and Dusty Nebulae in Taurus
This complex of dusty nebulae lingers along the edge of the Taurus molecular cloud, a mere 450 light-years distant. Stars are forming on the cosmic scene. Composed from almost 40 hours of image data, the 2 degree wide telescopic field of view includes some youthful T-Tauri class stars embedded in the remnants of their natal clouds at the right. Millions of years old and still going through stellar adolescence, the stars are variable in brightness and in the late phases of their gravitational collapse. Their core temperatures will rise to sustain nuclear fusion as they grow into stable, low mass, main sequence stars, a stage of stellar evolution achieved by our middle-aged Sun about 4.5 billion years ago. Another youthful variable star, V1023 Tauri, can be spotted on the left. Within its yellowish dust cloud, it lies next to the striking blue reflection nebula Cederblad 30, also known as LBN 782. Just above the bright bluish reflection nebula is dusty dark nebula Barnard 7. Credit: Lloyd L. Smith, Deep Sky West
IC 2087 (center) inside the Taurus Molecular Cloud // Esa Viitala
Sh2-239 // Liam Yanulis
The Taurus Molecular Cloud // Guido Pasi
The Baby Eagle Nebula (LBN 777, bottom center) and the surrounding Taurus Molecular Cloud // Deepak Sureshkumar