Close-up: Dueling Dust 'Dragons' in Ara | Victor Blanco Telescope

Close-up: Dueling Dust 'Dragons' in Ara | Victor Blanco Telescope

The Fighting Dragons of Ara, formally designated NGC 6188, is an emission nebula located about 4,000 light-years away near the edge of a large molecular cloud in the constellation Ara (the Altar). The nebula was given its name for its resemblance to two ‘dragons’ emerging from within the ominous dark dust clouds to face off with one another. This image is of their ‘profiles’ pointed squarely at each other, captured by the U.S. Department of Energy-built Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. 

The reddish glow of the dragons’ backs is ionized hydrogen, ‘lit up’ by light from the bright young stars—only a few million years old—in the nebula. Of these young stars, 27 form the beaming open cluster NGC 6193. This gives a background glow that further defines the outline of the dragons. These young stars have also been blowing off intense stellar winds since they ignited, sculpting and shaping the gas and dust into the mythical ‘duel’ that we see today.

Dark Energy Camera (DECam)

https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/ctio/victor-blanco-4m-telescope/decam/

Learn about the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope:
https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/ctio/telescopes/victor-blanco-4m-telescope

Credits:
Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Image Processing: R. Colombari and M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)
Release Date: July 9, 2025

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