Archivo de imágenes de Hubble

NGC 2174

In celebration of the 24th anniversary of the launch of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (on April 24, 1990) astronomers have taken an infrared-light portrait of a roiling region of starbirth located 6,400 light-years away.The Hubble mosaic unveils a collection of carved knots of ga...

Fecha
Jan 1, 2014
Misión
Hubble Space Telescope
ID de archivo
hubblesite-images-2014-18-3336-image
Por

In celebration of the 24th anniversary of the launch of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (on April 24, 1990) astronomers have taken an infrared-light portrait of a roiling region of starbirth located 6,400 light-years away.

The Hubble mosaic unveils a collection of carved knots of gas and dust in a small portion of the Monkey Head Nebula (also known as NGC 2174 and Sharpless Sh2-252). The nebula is a star-forming region that hosts dusky dust clouds silhouetted against glowing gas.

Massive, newly formed stars near the center of the nebula (and toward the right in this image) are blasting away at dust within the nebula. Ultraviolet light from these bright stars helps carve the dust into giant pillars. The nebula is mostly composed of hydrogen gas, which becomes ionized by the ultraviolet radiation.

As the interstellar dust particles are warmed from the radiation from the stars in the center of the nebula, they heat up and begin to glow at infrared wavelengths.

The image demonstrates Hubble's powerful infrared vision and offers a tantalizing hint of what scientists can expect from the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.

Observations of NGC 2174 were taken in February 2014.

Credits

NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Detalles de la imagen

About The Object
Object NameNGC 2174, Monkey Head Nebula, Sharpless Sh2-252
Object DescriptionStar-forming Region
R.A. Position06h 9m 10.0s
Dec. Position20° 27' 20.0"
ConstellationOrion
Distance6,400 light-years (2,000 parsecs)
About The Data
Data DescriptionThe Hubble data are from proposal : Hubble Heritage Team/STScI/AURA: Z. Levay (PI; STScI), K. Noll (GSFC), and M. Mutchler, J. Mack, C. Christian, M. Livio, L. Frattare, J. Sokol, and S. Meyett (STScI). High-level science products for these data are available from the
InstrumentHST>WFC3/IR
Exposure DatesFebruary 7 - 24, 2014
FiltersF105W (Y), F125W (J), and F160W (H)
About The Image
Color InfoThis composite image includes exposures acquired by the WFC3 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F105W (Y) Green: F125W (J) Red: F160W (H)

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