In astronomy we are presented with the intricate interplay of darkness and light. In Plato's story we are potential prisoners in a cave who, being chained in position, have only ever seen shadows on a cave wall cast by a fire behind us. The reality of the substantive objects that cast the shadows is not known—all that appears is the seeming reality of the shadows.



Only within the last handful of generations have fuzzy, luminous clouds in the sky transformed into galaxies leaving other clouds such as this one to be understood as a starforming region inside our own galaxy. This understanding came about through creative insight and an expansion of our senses through evermore sensitive detectors.



No astronomer has ever touched a star, scooped up gases in a nebula, or visited another galaxy—and yet we have turned our heads towards stellar fires and loosened the chains in our quest to understand the greater reality of the Universe.



That being said, this is a very pretty region of space.

Here is a galaxy, although pretty bright and large, that is relatively unknown (given its size) due to its southern placement in the sky: