Hubble Image: Nearby Dust Clouds in the Milky Way

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FOR RELEASE: 9:00 am (EDT) April 4, 2006

PHOTO NO.: STScI-PRC06-13

NEARBY DUST CLOUDS IN THE MILKY WAY

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed dense, dark knots of
dust
and gas in our Milky Way Galaxy. This cosmic dust is a concentration of
elements that are responsible for the formation of stars in our galaxy
and throughout the universe. These dark, opaque knots of gas and dust
are called "Bok globules," and they are absorbing light in the center
of
the nearby emission nebula and star-forming region, NGC 281. These
images were taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in October
2005. NGC 281 is located nearly 9,500 light-years away in the direction
of the constellation Cassiopeia.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Acknowledgment: P. McCullough (STScI)

Electronic image files, video, and additional information about the
image are available on the Web at:

http://hubblesite.org/news/2006/13
http://heritage.stsci.edu/2006/13
http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

For more information, please contact:
Keith Noll, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.,
(phone) 410-338-1828, (e-mail) or

Peter McCullough, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.,
(phone) 410-338-5068, (e-mail)

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation
between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The Space Telescope
Science Institute in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. The
Institute is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for
Research in Astronomy, Inc., Washington.