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March 1, 1996
A Mysterious Cone Nebula
Credit:
Anglo-Australian Telescope
photograph by David Malin
Copyright:
Anglo-Australian Telescope
Board
Explanation: Sometimes the simplest shapes are the hardest to explain. For example, the origin of the mysterious cone-shaped region located just below the center of the above picture remains a mystery. The dark region clearly contains much dust which blocks light from the emission nebula and open cluster NGC 2264 behind it. One hypothesis holds that the cone is formed by wind particles from an energetic source blowing past the Bok globule at the head of the cone.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(GMU) &
Jerry
Bonnell (USRA).
NASA Technical Rep.:
Sherri
Calvo.
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LHEA
at
NASA/
GSFC