Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2025

T he ominous Chamaeleon I dark cloud, the nearest star-forming region to Earth, is captured in this image taken with the 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter- American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. Chamaeleon I is one portion of the larger Chamaeleon Complex and is home to three reflection nebu- lae that are brightly illuminated by nearby newly formed stars. [CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA − Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska An- chorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF NOIRLab)] SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2025 stars is scattered by the nebula’s dust particles. This reflection creates a bright pock-et of light amongst the otherwise opaque clouds. Below the pair of reflection nebulae is the orange-tinted Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula. Resembling the wings of an ethereal cosmic aviator, this nebula is the product of streams of fast-moving gas that are being ejected from a newly formed low- mass star at the core of the nebula. These streams have carved a tunnel through the interstellar cloud where the young star was born. The infrared and visible light emit- ted by the nascent star escapes along this tunnel and scatters off its walls, giving rise to the wispy reflec- tion nebula. Embedded throughout Chamaeleon I, astronomers have also found numerous Herbig-Haro objects — bright patches of nebulos- ity that form when ionized jets of gas ejected from newly born stars collide with slow-moving gas in the surrounding cloud. One of these ob- jects can be spotted as a tiny, faint red patch lying in the dusty realm between Cederblad 111 and Ceder- !