by Ann » Sat Jan 11, 2014 7:13 am
This is a great image, and the Seagull Nebula is wonderfully photogenic and fascinating site of star formation. There are embedded stars, clusters and nebulosity all over the place!
A thing I really like about the Seagull Nebula and NGC 2327 is that it demonstrates so fantastically clearly that star formation may take place at the end of a long "tube" of dark nebulosity. Another example of the same phenomenon is
the Cocoon Nebula, but the Seagull Nebula demonstrates this phenomenon even more dramatically. And the "wings" of the Seagull are slightly reminiscent of
"the wall" in IC 1805 and Melotte 15. In both cases star formation is taking place on both sides of a "dividing line of nebulosity", although Melotte 15 produces a lot more ultraviolet light and a lot stronger stellar winds than the stars in and near the Seagull Nebula, so that the wall in Melotte 15 is a lot more contorted than "the ridge" in the wings of the Seagull.
Two clusters can be seen in today's APOD, NGC 2335 at about 8 o'clock, and NGC 2343 at 6 o'clock. NGC 2335 is clearly a somewhat oldish open cluster, because it is spread out, the colors of the stars are muted, and few stars stand out because of their brightness. NGC 2343, by contrast, is young. It is concentrated, many of the stars are blue, and the stars are relatively bright.
I can't resist showing you
this image of the Seagull Nebula, where you can see that there is a red giant in NGC 2343. At bottom left in the same image you can see an even rarer bird than a seagull, an O-type star, HD 54662, the only O-type star in or near the Seagull Nebula.
Ann
This is a great image, and the Seagull Nebula is wonderfully photogenic and fascinating site of star formation. There are embedded stars, clusters and nebulosity all over the place!
A thing I really like about the Seagull Nebula and NGC 2327 is that it demonstrates so fantastically clearly that star formation may take place at the end of a long "tube" of dark nebulosity. Another example of the same phenomenon is [url=http://mstecker.com/images/astronomy/AstroimageIndex/darknebula/s223c2bw.JPG]the Cocoon Nebula[/url], but the Seagull Nebula demonstrates this phenomenon even more dramatically. And the "wings" of the Seagull are slightly reminiscent of [url=http://www.teacher.aedocenter.com/mywebB/NewBook-4/images-4/IC1805_3.jpg]"the wall" in IC 1805 and Melotte 15[/url]. In both cases star formation is taking place on both sides of a "dividing line of nebulosity", although Melotte 15 produces a lot more ultraviolet light and a lot stronger stellar winds than the stars in and near the Seagull Nebula, so that the wall in Melotte 15 is a lot more contorted than "the ridge" in the wings of the Seagull.
Two clusters can be seen in today's APOD, NGC 2335 at about 8 o'clock, and NGC 2343 at 6 o'clock. NGC 2335 is clearly a somewhat oldish open cluster, because it is spread out, the colors of the stars are muted, and few stars stand out because of their brightness. NGC 2343, by contrast, is young. It is concentrated, many of the stars are blue, and the stars are relatively bright.
I can't resist showing you [url=http://www.picsoncanvas.co.uk/communities/4/004/011/294/004//images/4601121662.jpg]this image of the Seagull Nebula[/url], where you can see that there is a red giant in NGC 2343. At bottom left in the same image you can see an even rarer bird than a seagull, an O-type star, HD 54662, the only O-type star in or near the Seagull Nebula.
Ann