Dust cloud
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by
hipchem
It appears this is just a gas cloud. I am going to assume the red point seen is actually farther away and outside the cloud.
Posted
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by
ElisabethB
moderator
Hi hipchem and welcome to the Zoo
The central object is not a gas cloud but a fuzzy and disturbed galaxy. The red dot is a foreground star from our galaxy (so closer than the galaxy) and not connected to the central galaxy in any way.
Happy hunting ! 😄
Posted
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by
JeanTate
in response to hipchem's comment.
To add to what Els said, this is an Illustris sim, so what you see cannot be just a gas cloud; instead, the (simulated) light comes from (simulated) 'stars', some of which produce (simulated) HII regions etc. In Illustris sims, blue (bluish) signifies younger star populations, and yellow (yellowish, tending to orange) older ones. For more, check out this Illustris "About" webpage; it's a really, really cool project! 😃
Hope this helps, and happy hunting!
Posted