APOD 1.5



The bright star in the corner marking part of the asterism known as "The Great Square" is the bright star Markab, Alpha star of the constellation Pegasus, also known as the Winged Horse commonly. The dusty clouds appear courtesy of a blue reflection nebula less than a thousand light-years distant, this area looking away from the Milky Way plane littered with molecular clouds. This image shows a span of about five degrees--ten times the diameter of our moon--and in the background are galaxies far off (once past the Milky Way), such as NGC 7497, as noted by its prominent spirals.