APOD: The Flame Nebula in Infrared (2010 Jan 12)

[APOD Robot]

The Flame Nebula in Infrared

Explanation: What lights up the Flame Nebula? Fifteen hundred light years away towards the constellation of Orion lies a nebula which, from its glow and dark dust lanes, appears, on the left, like a billowing fire. But fire, the rapid acquisition of oxygen, is not what makes this Flame glow. Rather the bright star Alnitak, the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion visible just above the nebula, shines energetic light into the Flame that knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. The above false-color picture of the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) was taken in infrared light, where a young star cluster becomes visible. The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a star-forming region that includes the famous Horsehead Nebula, visible above on the far right.

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[neufer]

• Sonnet I: Feed'st thy light'st flame with self-substantial fuel,
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  _________ King Lear > Act III, scene IV
  
  EDGAR: Whom the foul
  . fiend hath led through fire and through flame, and
  . through ford and whirlipool e'er bog and quagmire;

[emc]

Life’s flame burns like fusion
Propagating emotion like starlit nebulae
What of God’s creatures can hide from its beckoning call?
To the stars… to the heavens… onward outward… ever reaching
For love’s reward

[floyd]

As a long time fan of APOD I've often wondered what these beautiful nebula would look like if we were inside one. What would our solar system look like if we could observe it from thousands of light years away? Would we appear as a tiny speck or would be be a part of a beautiful scene a distant astronomer might see and wonder at?

[DonAVP]

. . . the famous Horsehead Nebula, visible above on the far right.

The Horsehead sure looks more wispy in inferred. I am going to see if I can overlay this image with one taken in visible light.

[neufer]

. . . the famous Horsehead Nebula, visible above on the far right.

The Horsehead sure looks more wispy in inferred [sic].
I am going to see if I can overlay this image with one taken in visible light.

• "Inferred" Horsehead

<<This graffito was discovered in 1857 when a building called the domus Gelotiana was unearthed on the Palatine Hill. The emperor Caligula had acquired the house for the imperial palace, which after Caligula died became used as a Paedagogium or boarding-school for the imperial page boys. Later the street on which the house sat was walled off to give support to extensions to the buildings above, and it thus remained sealed for centuries.>>

[geckzilla]

As a long time fan of APOD I've often wondered what these beautiful nebula would look like if we were inside one. What would our solar system look like if we could observe it from thousands of light years away? Would we appear as a tiny speck or would be be a part of a beautiful scene a distant astronomer might see and wonder at?

The Sun is probably pretty unremarkable to a distant observer, compared to, say, the Pleiades, which is a pretty striking star cluster. Apparently we are inside something called the Local Fluff but it's really diffuse. I wonder what it looks like from afar too but I don't think it would be very impressive.

We are also inside a beautiful galaxy but the night sky is still quite subtle to our own eyes. I can't imagine that being inside the Orion Nebula would be much different. It might not be conducive living, though...

[BMAONE23]

. . . the famous Horsehead Nebula, visible above on the far right.

The Horsehead sure looks more wispy in inferred. I am going to see if I can overlay this image with one taken in visible light.

It kinda resembels a toadstool

[neufer]

As a long time fan of APOD I've often wondered what these beautiful nebula would look like if we were inside one. What would our solar system look like if we could observe it from thousands of light years away? Would we appear as a tiny speck or would be be a part of a beautiful scene a distant astronomer might see and wonder at?

The Sun is probably pretty unremarkable to a distant observer, compared to, say, the Pleiades, which is a pretty striking star cluster. Apparently we are inside something called the Local Fluff but it's really diffuse.

• MARLENE: ..I saw your act.
  
  JERRY SEINFELD: My act? What does that have to do with anything?
  
  MARLENE: Well, to be honest, it just didn't make it for me. It's just so much Fluff.
  
  JERRY SEINFELD: I can't believe this. So what are you saying? You didn't like my act, so that's it?
  
  MARLENE: I can't be with someone if I don't respect what they do.
  
  JERRY SEINFELD: You're a cashier!

<<The Local Interstellar Cloud, casually called the Local Fluff, is the interstellar cloud (roughly 30 light years across) through which the Solar System is currently moving. The Solar System entered the Local Interstellar Cloud at some time between 44,000 and 150,000 years ago and is expected to remain within it for another 10,000 to 20,000 years. The cloud has a temperature of about 6000 °C, about the same temperature as the surface of the Sun. It is very thin, with 0.1 atoms per cubic centimeter; approximately one-fifth the density of the galactic interstellar medium (0.5 atoms/cc) and twice that of the gas in the Local Bubble (0.05 atoms/cc), the Local Bubble being an area of low-density in the interstellar medium, with the Local Cloud a small, more dense area. In comparison, Earth's atmosphere at STP has 2.7 × 10¹⁹ molecules per cubic centimeter.

The cloud is flowing outwards from the Scorpius-Centaurus Association, a stellar association that is a star-forming region. The cloud formed where the Local Bubble and the Loop I Bubble met. The Sun, with a few other local stars, is embedded in the Local Fluff. The Local Interstellar Cloud's potential effects on Earth are prevented by the solar wind and the Sun's magnetic field.>>

Voyager 1 in the diffuse Ophiuchus Fluff heliosheath.

<<As of May 2008, Voyager 1 is at 12.45° declination and 17.125 hours right ascension, placing it in the constellation Ophiuchus as observed from the Earth. NASA continues its daily tracking of Voyager 1 with its Deep Space Network. This network measures both the elevation and azimuth angles of the incoming radio waves from Voyager 1, and it also measures the distance from the Earth to Voyager 1 by measuring the round-trip time delay of radio signals to and from Voyager 1. Then, halving that time delay, and multiplying by the well-known speed of light gives the one-way distance.

As Voyager 1 heads for interstellar space, its instruments continue to study the solar system; Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists are using the plasma wave experiments aboard Voyager 1 and 2 to look for the heliopause. In May 2005 a NASA press release said that consensus was that Voyager 1 was now in the heliosheath. Scientists anticipate the craft will reach the heliopause in 2015.

As of 21 December 2009 (2009 -12-21), Voyager 1 was at a distance of 112.060 AU from the Sun, which makes it the most distant human-made object from Earth. At this distance, it is farther away from the Sun than any known natural solar system object, including Eris and 90377 Sedna, but excluding long-period comets.>>

[Chris Peterson]

As a long time fan of APOD I've often wondered what these beautiful nebula would look like if we were inside one. What would our solar system look like if we could observe it from thousands of light years away? Would we appear as a tiny speck or would be be a part of a beautiful scene a distant astronomer might see and wonder at?

If we were inside the nebula, we'd hardly know it. The background sky would be a little brighter- something like the Milky Way, but not quite so bright. There might be a little structure to provide contrast- again, something like the Milky Way.

Our star is pretty average. From thousands of light years, it would only be visible in a telescope. We're in a part of the galaxy largely free of gas and dust, so we'd only look impressive to a distant observer if the Sun happened to line up with a nebula in the same line of sight.

[NoelC]

And to put things in perspective, the Horsehead nebula, nose to mane, is about 1000 times the diameter of Pluto's orbit, which is huge in itself!

-Noel

[DavidLeodis]

Am I right in thinking that the Horsehead Nebula is the brownish object near the top right corner. If so I doubt I would have realised it is in the image without the explanation mentioning it.

[Chris Peterson]

Am I right in thinking that the Horsehead Nebula is the brownish object near the top right corner. :?: If so I doubt I would have realised it is in the image without the explanation mentioning it.

Yes. The image has been rotated for the APOD main page; the linked full resolution image is presented in the conventional north-up orientation, and the Horsehead is more recognizable there since this is usually how it is seen. However, we usually see it in visible light, where the dust is invisible and the nebula is only apparent in the way it occults its background. Seen here in IR, the visible structure in the dust disguises somewhat the iconic Horsehead appearance.

[DavidLeodis]

Thanks Chris for your reply, which is appreciated. I thought it was the Horsehead but I had a doubt of uncertainty that it was.