At bottom, upper right, and lower left it covers the Lagoon Nebula (M8), the Trifid Nebula (M20), and NGC 6559, in the crowded, dusty starfields of the central Milky Way.
From afar, the whole thing looks like an Eagle. A closer look at the Eagle Nebula, however, shows the bright region is actually a window into the center of a larger dark shell of dust.
At the heart of the Orion Nebula, are four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium. Gathered within a region about 1.5 light-years in radius, they dominate the core of the dense Orion Nebula Star Cluster.
These unusual blobs found in the Carina nebula, some of which are seen floating on the upper right, might best be described as evaporating. Ironically the blobs, otherwise known as dark molecular clouds, frequently create in their midst the very stars that later destroy them.
30 Doradus, the red and pink gas indicates a massive emission nebula, although supernova remnants and dark nebula also exist there. The bright knot of stars left of center is called R136and contains many of the most massive, hottest, and brightest stars known.
NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. NASA photo of the day 2012 August 16.
Mmm-Mmm Versace….. Ready-to-Wear/Spring/2013
This is a Spitzer image of the Orion nebula in the infrared overlaid with XMM-Newton X-ray data in blue.
Lying about 1350 light-years from Earth, an image of the Orion Nebula (Messier 42).
Orion Nebula picture from images taken by Hubble and Spitzer telescopes.
The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Explorer, or WISE. The Rho Ophiuchi cloud (named after a bright star in the region) is found rising above the plane of the Milky Way in the night sky, bordering the constellations Ophiuchus and Scorpius.
The sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi. These star clouds are even more colorful than humans can see, emitting light across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, is located about 5500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. The image, roughly 3 light-years across, was taken May 29-30, 1999. The colors in the image represent various gases. Red represents sulfur; green, hydrogen; and blue, oxygen.
Imagine if the rings of Saturn suddenly disappeared. Astronomers have witnessed the equivalent around a young sun-like star called TYC 8241 2652. Enormous amounts of dust known to circle the star are unexpectedly nowhere to be found.
A colony of hot, young stars is stirring up the cosmic scene in this new picture from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The image shows the Orion nebula, a happening place where stars are born. The young stars dip and peak in brightness due to a variety of reasons. Shifting cold and hot spots on the stars’ surfaces cause brightness levels to change, in addition to surrounding disks of lumpy planet-forming material, which can obstruct starlight. Spitzer is keeping tabs on the young stars, providing data on their changing ways.
The hottest stars in the region, called the Trapezium cluster, are bright spots at center right. Radiation and winds from those stars has sculpted and blown away surrounding dust. The densest parts of the cloud appear dark at center left.
This image was taken after Spitzer’s liquid coolant ran dry in May 2009, marking the beginning of its “warm” mission. Light from the telescope’s remaining infrared channels has been color-coded: 3.6-micron light is blue and 4.5-micron light is orange.
By FAR, one of my favorite images from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.
