APOD: Orion Nebula in Oxygen, Hydrogen,... (2013 Jun 04)

[APOD Robot]

Orion Nebula in Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Sulfur

Explanation: Few astronomical sights excite the imagination like the nearby stellar nursery known as the Orion Nebula. The Nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud. Many of the filamentary structures visible in the above image are actually shock waves - fronts where fast moving material encounters slow moving gas. The Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located about 1500 light years away in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as the Sun. The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the unaided eye just below and to the left of the easily identifiable belt of three stars in the popular constellation Orion. The above image shows the nebula in three colors specifically emitted by hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur gas. The whole Orion Nebula cloud complex, which includes the Horsehead Nebula, will slowly disperse over the next 100,000 years.

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[Ann]

Here is a graph showing emission lines of oxygen, hydrogen and sulphur.

Ann

[Chris Peterson]

Here is a graph showing emission lines of oxygen, hydrogen and sulphur.

To be clear, the wavelengths recorded are for O[III] , S[II] , and H-alpha.

[obscurechemist]

Are the pseudo colors specific? Which color is which element? Or are they actual colors? blue (O), red (S)?

[stephen63]

Are the pseudo colors specific? Which color is which element?

Typically, sulfur is mapped to red, hydrogen to green and oxygen to blue. Then to get the Hubble palette, the colors are adjusted some more.
http://bf-astro.com/hubbleP.htm

[Psnarf]

The Sun must have came to light in such a stellar nursery. Has that gas and dust dissipated so we can no longer detect it?

[Chris Peterson]

The Sun must have came to light in such a stellar nursery. Has that gas and dust dissipated so we can no longer detect it?

Yes. Such nebulas have very short lifetimes- just a few million years.

[neufer]

Are the pseudo colors specific? Which color is which element?

Typically, sulfur is mapped to red, hydrogen to green and oxygen to blue.
Then to get the Hubble palette, the colors are adjusted some more.
http://bf-astro.com/hubbleP.htm

• Sulfur is red,
  Oxygen's blue,
  Hydrogen's green,
  Try tweakin' the Hue.

[stephen63]

• Sulfur is red,
  Oxygen is blue,
  Hydrogen is green,
  Try tweaking the Hue.

Very colorful, Art!

[Boomer12k]

What a Stunningly Lovely Image! WOW!

The whole picture looks like a Flower about to bloom.

From the Trapezium to the upper right is the flower, and below is the leaves and stem...The "Running Man" Nebula to the left is a Bud....it is like a Rose in Space...Amazing!

The Dust Lane Rift area looks like a fast moving Ice Skater, a blur of motion.
M42 is my most favorite place!!!!!

Pull back on the magnification of your browser and you will see what I mean.

Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur Gas...but it does not say which colors are which.... OH!! THANKS, ART!!!! So....What is all the Yellow Then????

:---[===] *

[Beyond]

What a Stunningly Lovely Image! WOW!

The whole picture looks like a Flower about to bloom.

From the Trapezium to the upper right is the flower, and below is the leaves and stem...The "Running Man" Nebula to the left is a Bud....it is like a Rose in Space...Amazing!

The Dust Lane Rift area looks like a fast moving Ice Skater, a blur of motion.
M42 is my most favorite place!!!!!

Pull back on the magnification of your browser and you will see what I mean.

Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur Gas...but it does not say which colors are which.... OH!! THANKS, ART!!!! So....What is all the Yellow Then????

:---[===] *

All that yellow is because Orion doesn't use Pepsodent

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Chris Peterson]

What is all the Yellow Then?

Yellow is produced by the sum of red and green, so in part you are seeing a superposition of Ha and S[II]. However, not all the light is narrowband emission; even through the narrow filters, some of the light is reflected continuum from the stars, and that tends to create areas of lower saturation, which includes a lot of the yellow and brown colors that appear to be reflecting from dust.

[BMAONE23]

The shape of the cloud of the Orion Nebula reminds me of this guy

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Almost spot on at time 2:27

[Imagine.heaven]

A nice little three master sailing ship in the blue .. and a lovely little cabin ..

[BMAONE23]

A nice little three master sailing ship in the blue .. and a lovely little cabin ..

I see that "Ship" in Blue
Looks like Barbosa is at it again

[DavidLeodis]

I also wondered what colours applied in the image when I saw this APOD. Thanks to all who have posted so far it seems to be that sulfur is red, hydrogen green and oxygen blue, though there may be some colour mixing. I am therefore confused why in very many APODs that great note is made of the red of hydrogen alpha (Ha) yet sulfur is red here and Ha (if that is what the hydrogen is here) is green. Thanks for any help.

[neufer]

I also wondered what colours applied in the image when I saw this APOD. Thanks to all who have posted so far it seems to be that sulfur is red, hydrogen green and oxygen blue, though there may be some colour mixing. I am therefore confused why in very many APODs that great note is made of the red of hydrogen alpha (Ha) yet sulfur is red here and Ha (if that is what the hydrogen is here) is green. Thanks for any help.

Hydrogen-alpha (Ha) and single ionized sulfur (Sii) are both red naturally.

620–740 nm : Red color
520–570 nm : Green color
450–495 nm : Blue color

• - Single ionized sulfur (Sii) at 672 nm
  - Hydrogen-alpha (Ha) at 656 nm
  - Double ionized oxygen (Oiii) at 501 nm

[neufer]

.

"Yarr, I don't know
what I'm doin'."

A nice little three master sailing ship in the blue .. and a lovely little cabin ..

• I see that "Ship" in Blue

Looks like Barbosa is at it again

[DavidLeodis]

Thanks neufer for your informative reply, which is appreciated.

I would though still like confirmation (or otherwise) that the reddish parts in the image are due to sulfur, greenish to hydrogen and bluish to oxygen, as though that is implied in posts it has not yet been definitely stated to be the case. It is a pity that in the explanation it simply states the "image shows the nebula in three colors specifically emitted by hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur gas" but does not state what those colors are.

[vinnyg]

Hi, I'm new to posting but have been enjoying the daily pictures for years, thank you so very much for the website.

When I looked at todays picture, Orion Nebula in Oxygen, Hydrogen (2013 jun 04) something jumped out at me.

Has any one ever seen the flying eagle, just about in the center of the picture-just a little to the right.

You can see the beak, the head, the crest on the chest, the eye, the wings stretched out and high, it even looks like someone is standing on top of the eagles neck riding the skys.

[neufer]

---

When I looked at todays picture, Orion Nebula in Oxygen, Hydrogen (2013 jun 04) something jumped out at me.

Has any one ever seen the flying eagle, just about in the center of the picture-just a little to the right. You can see the beak, the head, the crest on the chest, the eye, the wings stretched out and high, it even looks like someone is standing on top of the eagles neck riding the skys.

• Not "eagles" exactly:

<<The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Spanish: El sueño de la razón produce monstruos) is an etching made by the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya. Created between 1797 and 1799, it is plate 43 of the 80 etchings making up the suite of satires Los Caprichos. Goya imagines himself asleep amidst his drawing tools, his reason dulled by slumber and bedeviled by creatures that prowl in the dark. The work includes owls that may be symbols of folly and bats symbolising ignorance. The artist's nightmare reflected his view of Spanish society, which he portrayed in the Los Caprichos as demented, corrupt, and ripe for ridicule. The full epigraph for caprichio No. 43 is: "Fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: united with her, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of their marvels.">>

[merve temizer]

Hello,

Is the picture Photoshop Gimp vs free?

Are the colors untouched?