Apod 4.2

Here, near the northern boundary of Corona Australis, or the Southern Crown, there can be seen cosmic dust clouds and young, energetic stars (than 500 light-years away). The dust clouds effectively block light from more distant background stars in the Milky Way, as well as stars still in the process of formation. 

The striking complex of reflection nebulae (cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, and IC 4812) produce a blue color as light from the region's young hot stars is reflected by the cosmic dust. At the left, smaller yellowish nebula NGC 6729 bends around young variable star R Coronae Australis. Just below it, glowing arcs and loops shocked by outflows from embedded newborn stars are identified as Herbig-Haro objects. On the sky this field of view spans about 1 degree. That corresponds to almost 9 light-years at the estimated distance of the nearby star forming region.