The Orion's Arm Universe Project Forums

Full Version: Baby Star Gets Gassy
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
Radio telescopes have been tracking the eruptions of W75N(B)-VLA2, producing some epic pictures (which I think are artist-enhanced, but look cool).
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32168507
This star is in Cygnus, behind the Cygnus Rift but not quite as far away as the Cygnus OB2 association, assuming the 4200ly distance estimate is correct. It would be a significant target for exploitation- if you get hold of a star in the process of formation you can attempt to direct the course of its evolution. Either a post-Cyexpa colony or a Panvirtualist system, depending who gets there first.
Here's the location of W75N(B)-VLA2, about halfway between Deneb and Cygnus OB2; the Northern Coal Sack, part of the Great Rift, is in the foreground, obscuring most of this brilliant region, which would rival Orion in our skies if the clouds weren't in the way...
Is that an overhead projection like the OA maps, or a picture of how it'd appear in our skies?
This is from wikisky, so it shows what it looks like from Earth. Deneb is about 3200 ly away, W75N(B)-VLA2 is about 4200ly away, and Cygnus OB2 is about 4500 ly away, so if you draw a line though them it will b more-or-less straight.

The dark Northern Coal Sack starts about 300 ly away, and stretches to about 2000 ly away, so it obscures a lot of these stars. A strand of the Coalsack also splits the North American Nebula off from the Pelican Nebula, which are probably both the same nebula and are about 1600 ly away.