image: This shimmering view of interstellar gas and dust was captured by the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope. Part of a so-called dark cloud, named LDN 1641, the nebula sits at about 1300 light-years from Earth, within a sprawling complex of dusty gas clouds in the constellation of Orion. In visible light this region of the sky appears mostly dark, with few stars dotting what seems to be a primarily empty background. But, by imaging the cloud with the infrared eyes of its NISP instrument, Euclid reveals a multitude of stars shining through a tapestry of dust and gas.
Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by M. Schirmer (MPIA, Heidelberg)