The HST in February imaged a spectacular nebula which lies 2000 light-years away in Cygnus. Its dimensions are about 2x0.5 light-years. A massive central star, Infrared Radio Source 4, could be upwards of fifteen solar masses.
The nebula itself is beautiful. A ring of dust around IRS 4 blocks the expanding gas and causes it to form lobes on either side of the star.
More information:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubbl ... angel.html
Compare it with ground-based images taken in February 2010:
http://www.gemini.edu/node/11410
Sharpless 2-106
-
Christopher K.
- Posts: 6356
- Joined: October 12th, 2009, 3:28 pm
- Location: Baton Rouge, LA
-
Christopher K.
- Posts: 6356
- Joined: October 12th, 2009, 3:28 pm
- Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Re: Sharpless 2-106
The Hubble Heritage image hyperlinked in the previous post is the December selection for Astronomy Magazine's 2014 Deep Space Mysteries calendar.
The star-forming region lies 2˚30' north-northwest of magnitude 4.6, K-class 47 Cygni.
The star-forming region lies 2˚30' north-northwest of magnitude 4.6, K-class 47 Cygni.
-
Christopher K.
- Posts: 6356
- Joined: October 12th, 2009, 3:28 pm
- Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Re: Sharpless 2-106
We have yet another differently-processed image of the nebula housing Infrared Source 4 (a new massive star). Some celestial objects are unaided-eye, some provide more detailed views with binoculars or telescopes, and some require cameras and processing. Sharpless 2-106 is one of the latter.
The image:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200325.html
The image:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200325.html