About the cover: Nature?s palette displayed in the cosmos. This stunning optical image shows interstellar gas and dust highlighted by stars in the constellations scorpius and Ophiuchus.
The star, Rho Ophiuchi (below "U" in Universe), is swathed in blue nubelosity, in which tiny dust particles scatter star light.
The bright star, Antares (Alpha Scorpii) surrounded by yellow-scattering gas, in seen at top center. To the left of this star is the bright globular cluster of stars M4 (NCC6121), with the star sigma scorpii below it.
Sigma scorpii is surrounded by a red emission nebula, which glows as its gas is excited by the star?s radiation. The darker regions peppering the glowing gas and dust are dust-rich clouds that obscure light from stars and interstellar gas behind them.