In today's image, we see the nearby star forming region and molecular cloud known as the Rho Ophiuchi region. This is only about 400 light years away, much closer than the often studied Orion Molecular Cloud. The image from the James Webb Space Telescope show the central light year of the cloud which contains about 50 newly formed stars.

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This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and website directly at: Astronomy Picture of the Day. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

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