Tonight we're climbing inside the Tadpole Nebula (IC410), so named for the two chimney columns of gas in the lower left.

Tad is 12,000 light-years away in another spiral arm of our Milky Way, and is found in the northern constellation of the Charioteer. The nebula looks to have been created just a couple of million years ago.

The various columns of bright and dark gasses pretty much all point to the middle of this image, where we find several small star clusters. This is likely the center of a massive explosion—an old star gave up the ghost, collapsed, and then blew up, spraying its guts in every direction. Almost immediately after the star shed its outer layers of hydrogen, the outward-bound waves of compressed gas condensed into several brand new stars. Those stars are still here today, hanging at ground zero like firecracker ignition sparks. 

If the core of the original star still exists, it might be one of the little ones in the middle, reduced to a dense white dwarf. This kind of star...or, uh, ex-star...passively glows white hot but isn't releasing new energy. It eventually just fades away.

As newly created stars spark to life, the outgoing gasses still radiating from the explosion are shoved to the side by the new stars' solar wind, creating a kind bow shock and wake behind. That's what makes the chimney columns. You'll notice the tadpoles have stars visible at the tip.

Dark clouds of ash, dust, and heavy compounds (could also be described as "smoke") float through the scene. All of the flotsam and jetsam is expanding outward and cradling the scene-of-the-crime in a bright red sphere of ionized hydrogen.

I have to say that I had no idea this image would come out so nicely. The target is far away, small, and dim. I took 18 10-minute images and hoped for the best. What a cool place was revealed when the images were later combined!

To Tadpole, I raise my Dr. Pepper and Tonic Water in a toast from the end of my driveway.

Appropriately enough, tonight's image was processed to the tune Afterglow, by jazz pianist Aaron Parks.