A Dark Tower in Scorpio

The Black Tower is an elongated dark cloud of dust and gas about 40 light-years in diameter, located about 5,000 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Scorpius.Silhouetted against a crowded star field, the Dark Tower is known as a cometary globule — an isolated and relatively small cloud of gas and dust within the Milky Way — that extends from the lower right corner to the top of the tower. to the left and above the center. of the image. Likely, clumps of dust and molecular gas are collapsing to form stars within this dark nebula.

Its backward shape is sculpted by intense ultraviolet radiation from the very hot stars of NGC 6231, which is located about 100 light-years from the Dark Tower (outside the upper edge of the image). The direction of the radiation source can be seen from the flow pattern in the dark cloud.

NGC 6231, also known as the False Comet Cluster or Northern Jewel Box, is an open cluster about 3.2 million years old, approaching us at 22 kilometers per second. The cluster belongs to the young association Scorpius OB1, a loosely organized group of hot, massive OB-type stars.

The energetic ultraviolet light from the stars in NGC 6231 is also causing the red glow (due to hydrogen gas) of the extensive bright edges (emission nebulae) around the top of the Dark Tower and the background medium, such as the interesting "bridge to nowhere". ", which extends from the tip of the Dark Tower to the top of the image. There are several bluish reflection nebulae embedded within the Dark Tower. These structures are stellar nurseries.