Setting the Dark on Fire (zoom)

A new image from the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope in Chile shows a beautiful view of clouds of cosmic dust in the region of Orion. While these dense interstellar clouds seem dark and obscured in visible-light observations, APEX’s LABOCA camera can detect the heat glow of the dust and reveal the hiding places where new stars are being formed.

The video begins with a wide-field view of the sky in visible light, before zooming in to the constellation of Orion and the region around the reflection nebula NGC 1999, with the APEX observations overlaid in brilliant orange tones that seem to set the dark clouds on fire.