DeepSkyAwe
Nebulae
The "Crescent" is an emission nebula or cloud of gas. It was first formed some few hundred thousand years ago when a star near the end of its life ejected the gas shell from its out layers. It is now being energized by the shock wave caused by the stellar wind of the bright central star colliding with the older existing gases. It is 5,000 light years from the earth and emits relatively little light. The red color is Hydrogen while the blue is ionized Oxygen.
To the naked eye, it looks like a single star in the constellation Orion "The Hunter" of Greek Mythology. It is a called the Horsehead because of the central cloud of dark dust and gas that resembles the silhouette of a horse's head and neck. It is a stellar nursery in which numerous stars are being born. The object itself is 1,500 light years from the earth but is relatively dim and emits relatively little light. The red color is mostly Hydrogen gas that is collapsing due to gravity.
Lagoon Nebula The "Lagoon" is an emission nebula. This giant cloud of gas and dust is creating intensely bright young stars and is home to young stellar clusters. It is 5,100 light years from the earth and relatively bright. The red color is Hydrogen gas that is being energized by the immense ultra violet radiation emitted by the two hot bright central stars. The entire object is 110 light years across, that is 1 follows by 15 zeros in km!
Orion Nebula To the naked eye, it looks like a star in the sword of the constellation. Orion is named after the great hunter of ancient mythology. It is 1300 light years away, so this image is what it looked like 1300 years ago. The Orion Nebula is a stellar nursery where new stars are being born. Approximately 700 stars are being born within the nebula. This Nebula, “cloud” in Latin, is a huge cloud of gas that has a total mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun.
The Dumbbell nebula is what remains of a sun like star that started to die 15,000 years ago. It is 1,360 light years from us so this is what it looked like that many years ago. It is a planetary nebula and the corpse of the host star still exists in the center as a white dwarf star. This will be the fate of our own sun as well. The nebula, “cloud” in Latin, is the leftover shell from the explosion and the red color comes from the hydrogen gas that has been expelled during the blast.
The Rosette nebula “cloud” in Latin, is a huge cloud of gas that spans 130 light years across. It is 5,100 light years away, so this image is what it looked like 5,100 years ago. It is mostly comprised of Hydrogen, other gases, and dust. Even though it looks like the majority is just gas, the overall mass of the region is 10,000 times greater than that of our own sun which is 330,000 times more massive than the earth!
The Eagle nebula gets its name from the central figure that resembles an eagle in flight. It is a very interesting region in our galaxy some 7,000 light years away. The nebula is a cluster of stars and hot gases that are collapsing under gravity to create new stars. Approximately 500 stars are present of which the brightest is a million times brighter than our sun. The tower of dust and gas to the left of the eagle is 90 trillion km long and our entire solar system would be a dot within it!
The Trifid Nebula name means “three lobed”. It is a cloud of gas which signifies new star birth, there are some 30 stars being born and 120 existing ones in it. The region is 5,100 light years from us so this is what it looked like that many years ago. This object is a rare combination of three nebulae types - emission, reflection, and dark. The dark bands are caused by dust blocking the light behind them from our view.
This is the eastern portion of the very large gas cloud called the Veil Nebula about 1,500 light years from us. It is a remnant of a star at the end of its life that exploded a few thousand years ago. The shock wave and expansion has been ongoing ever since and has grown to what we see in this picture. It is in fact 6 times bigger than the full moon in the sky but the light is so faint that it can’t be seen with the naked eye. In reality it is very large, 75 light years across.
The Eagle nebula gets its name from the central figure that resembles an eagle in flight. It is a very interesting region in our galaxy some 7,000 light years away. The nebula is a cluster of stars and hot gases that are collapsing under gravity to create new stars. Approximately 500 stars are present of which the brightest is a million times brighter than our sun. The tower of dust and gas to the left of the eagle is 90 trillion km long and our entire solar system would be a dot within it!
The Eagle nebula gets its name from the central figure that resembles an eagle in flight. It is a very interesting region in our galaxy some 7,000 light years away. The nebula is a cluster of stars and hot gases that are collapsing under gravity to create new stars. Approximately 500 stars are present of which the brightest is a million times brighter than our sun. The tower of dust and gas to the left of the eagle is 90 trillion km long and our entire solar system would be a dot within it!
The Eagle nebula gets its name from the central figure that resembles an eagle in flight. It is a very interesting region in our galaxy some 7,000 light years away. The nebula is a cluster of stars and hot gases that are collapsing under gravity to create new stars. Approximately 500 stars are present of which the brightest is a million times brighter than our sun. The tower of dust and gas to the left of the eagle is 90 trillion km long and our entire solar system would be a dot within it!
