"Tower of Treasures"
Highly commended - Deep Sky category, 2011 CWAS David Malin Awards


At about 5,000 light years from Earth, The Dark Tower is is faint "cometary globule" that lies within a large emission complex surrounding the open cluster NGC 6231 in the constellation of Scorpius. Cometary globules are formed when the energy of hot stars interacts with molecular clouds. The ionising interaction causes emission predominantly in the Ha band and typically leads to a bright rim closest to the ionising source that defines the edge of the cloud. The direction of the ionising radiation causes the gas to "trail" with increasing distance from the source causing comet shaped nodules.