* Image acquisition by:
Epicycle* Processing: Ruben Barbosa.
In the direction of the Cygnus constellation, 4,000 light-years away, a cosmic cocoon appears to have formed. Here on Earth, a cocoon represents the envelope that in the near future will undergo a magnificent transformation, as is the case of the butterfly.
And the cosmic cocoon, what hides within?
The cosmic cocoon, so called because it is located at the end of a long gas filament and dark dust, is a stellar maternity constituted by regions of emission, absorption and reflection.
IC 5146 (Caldwell 19, Sh 2-125 or Cocoon Nebula) extends for about 15 light-years and is a compact region where young and warm stars excite the hydrogen atoms of the surrounding molecular cloud, making it Red and reflect its blue light on its periphery.
The bright star near the center will probably only take a few hundred thousand years.
The long filaments of gas and dark dust (Barnard 168) conceal stars in formation, which are only visible at infrared wavelengths.
A small reflection nebula, Van den Bergh 147, nearby, adds a finishing touch to this magnificent landscape.
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