NGC 6820
When young stars form, they often ionise part of the cloud from which they were born. Only large, hot stars can emit the energy needed to trigger ionisation: very often, in fact, this energy is generated not by a single star but by a cluster of relatively close stars. This is the case of NGC 6823, a star cluster visible in the constellation of Vulpecula. These young stars literally “light up” the cloud in which they are embedded, creating a vast H II region (NGC 6820, or Sh2-86) that can only be observed through astronomical photography.
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