Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Our current best guess is depicted in the above map of the surrounding 1500 light year s constructed from various observations and deductions . Nearby, high-density molecular clouds including the Aquila Rift surround star forming regions, each shown in orange. The Gum Nebula , shown in green, is a region of hot ionized hydrogen gas. Future observations should help astronomers discern more about the local Galactic Neighborhood and how it might have affected Earth's past climate .
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