Ominous 'Chamaeleon' is hiding a stellar secret: Space photo of the week

The ominous Chamaeleon I dark cloud, the nearest star-forming region to Earth, is captured in this image taken with the 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab.

QUICK FACTS

What it is: The Chamaeleon I star-forming cloud

Where it is: 522 light-years away, in the constellations Chamaeleon, Apus, Musca, Carina and Octans

When it was shared: June 10, 2025

Stars form within dark molecular clouds of gas and dust called nebulae, but it's rare to capture these stellar nurseries clearly. A dramatic new image from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) in Chile unveils the Chamaeleon I dark cloud — the closest such place to the solar system — in unprecedented detail.