SH2-284

This rarely imaged object is SH2-284 a HII star forming region of dust and gas located approx. 15,000 light year from Earth. At its centre there is a cluster of young stars, Dolidze 25, with an estimated age of 3 to 4 million years. The radiation and stellar winds from this cluster is powerful enough to ionise the hydrogen gas in the nebula’s cloud, producing its bright orange and red colours and clearing the central void in the surrounding nebula, also in the formation of the monstrous pillars of gas and dust (‘elephant trunk’ formations) that stretch into the void.