Explanation:
NGC 6188 is an interstellar carnival of
young blue stars,
hot red gas, and
cool dark dust.
Located 4,000 light years away in the
disk of our Galaxy,
NGC 6188 is home to the
Ara OB1 association, a group of bright young stars
whose nucleus forms the open cluster
NGC 6193.
These stars are so bright that some of their blue light reflects off of
interstellar dust
forming the diffuse blue glow surrounding them stars in the
above photograph.
Open cluster NGC 6193 formed about
three million years ago from the surrounding gas,
and appears unusually rich in close binary stars.
The red glow visible throughout the photograph arises from
hydrogen gas heated by the bright stars in Ara OB1.
The dark dust that blocks much of NGC 6188's light was likely formed in the
outer atmospheres of
cooler stars and in
supernovae ejecta.
