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LiveScience
LiveScience
Jamie Carter

'Fighting dragons' light up little-known constellation in the Southern sky: Space photo of the week

Chile NASA Radiation
The "'The Fighting Dragons of Ara" is a nebula in a huge molecular cloud. (Image credit: Image credit: Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA. Image processing: R. Colombari and M. Zamani (NSF's NOIRLab))
QUICK FACTS

What it is: NGC 6188, also known as the Fighting Dragons of Ara or the Firebird Nebula

Where it is: 4,000 light-years away, in the constellation Ara ("the altar")

When it was shared: July 9, 2025

From a cat's paw to a cosmic tadpole, humans love to see figures of animals in the night sky — but the "'Fighting Dragons of Ara" has to be one of the most dramatic. Astronomers using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) in Chile have unveiled a mesmerizing new image that evokes a mythical duel of two celestial beasts.

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