The North America Nebula (Gallery Explorer)

Published: Feb. 10, 2011, midnight

b'Seen here in visible light, the North America Nebula strangely resembles its namesake continent. Expanding our view to include infrared light, the dark dust lanes and concealed stars glow in red colors while the continental gas clouds shift to an ocean-\\xad\\u2010like blue. Pushing entirely into the infrared spectrum, we see even more detail in the convoluted dust clouds.'