The Horsehead and the Flame

Well folks, looks like I have your next desktop wallpaper for you: a Spitzer Space Telescope image of the incredible Flame Nebula, a star-forming gas cloud hanging off Orion's belt: Holy. Wow. Spitzer is an infrared telescope, sensitive to light well beyond what our eyes can see. When it comes to astronomical objects, this part of the spectrum is dominated by the glow of dust--long, carbon-based molecules created when stars are born and when they die. Chemically, the dust is a polycyclic aromati...