Galactic Dust Clouds
Galactic Cirrus billows and obscures the background Universe in this direction. NGC 7497 is seen through partly cloudy skies. These galactic clouds of dust are sculpted by the winds of nearby stars. They are relatively close to us (only hundreds of light years away) and there are few stars in the foreground to hinder of view of them. The color of the clouds is odd due to the fact they are illuminated mostly by diffuse galactic star light.
Image: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona [high-resolution]
Caption: Adam Block