APOD: NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus (2021 Nov 11)

[APOD Robot]

NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus

Explanation: NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a reflection nebula, dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by interstellar dust. A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation Perseus, it lies at the edge of a large, star-forming molecular cloud. This telescopic close-up spans about two full moons on the sky or just over 15 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 1333. It shows details of the dusty region along with telltale hints of contrasty red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, jets and shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars. In fact, NGC 1333 contains hundreds of stars less than a million years old, most still hidden from optical telescopes by the pervasive stardust. The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun formed over 4.5 billion years ago.

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[Ann]

Let's compare a few pictures of NGC 1333:

Photo: AAE-Agrupació Astronòmica d'Eivissa

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Photo: Michael Sherick

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Photo: Mark Hanson. (Mark, I hope you are okay with me copying the small version of your image!)

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Photo: Al Howard

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Notice any differences between today's APOD (top left) and the other three images? Well, the blue reflection nebula of today's APOD looks more "transparent" than it does in the other images.

But there is another difference as well: The color of the reflection nebula. In today's APOD the hue of this nebula is washed-out and blandly grayish, whereas all the other three images show it in vibrant shades of blue. And the fact that this latest addition of the "NGC 1333 gallery" is so relatively lacking in blue color may well be a sign of the times, because brilliantly blue hues are ever less fashionable.

Not so long ago, light blue ■ was a popular color. Nowadays, this shade of blue is considered "tacky". If you want to be smart, you prefer a grayish shade of blue instead, ■. Another acceptable shade of blue nowadays is the "cyan-gray" ■ variety.

For me, the modern day's "rejection" of sweet lovely blue hues is terribly sad. No wonder all my curtains, carpets and other stuff is old, because it is impossible to buy things that are the shade of blue that I want!

Old image of the Pleiades by David Malin. Is this the future of color in the Pleiades in astrophotography?

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Mapped color image of the Pillars of Creation.

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That's an old image of the Pleiades, but is that the future of blue in astrophotography? Except of course in mapped color images, where bright blue is sometimes used to show the presence of green OIII and green symbolizes the presence of red Hα.

Ann

[orin stepanek]

These planet forming Nebulae can be so pretty!

[Suffering Fool]

So "visible light" doesn't equate to what you would see with your eye through a telescope? I.e. this is a false color image?

[Chris Peterson]

So "visible light" doesn't equate to what you would see with your eye through a telescope? I.e. this is a false color image?

This image appears to have been made using broadband red, green, and blue filters, meaning it is not false color. No such astronomical object is bright enough for human eyes to perceive any color at all, but the colors as presented are reasonably similar to what we'd see if our eyes' sensitivity to light was higher.

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

<<Perseus and Andromeda had seven sons: Perses, Alcaeus, Heleus, Mestor, Sthenelus, Electryon, and Cynurus, and two daughters, Gorgophone, and Autochthe. Perses was left in Aethiopia and was believed to have become an ancestor of the Persians. The other descendants ruled Mycenae from Electryon down to Eurystheus, after whom Atreus got the kingdom. The most renowned of the Perseides was Greece's greatest hero, Heracles son of Zeus and Alcmene, daughter of Electryon.>>

[jragsdale82]

Yesterday's clue was "67P", what does NGC1333 have to do with the new comet?

[heehaw]

So "visible light" doesn't equate to what you would see with your eye through a telescope? I.e. this is a false color image?

In Virginia, there is a cave, with cave tours. On one of them, the guide turned out the light, and shone a UV map! Glorious fluorescence! A tour member complained, "that's not real!". The guide said...OK: you want real? and turned out ALL the lights.

[alter-ego]

Today's image kinda looks like an aerial or satellite nighttime view of the California wildfires.

[MarkBour]

Today's image kinda looks like an aerial or satellite nighttime view of the California wildfires.

Wow, it does indeed look like a firescape.

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Today's image kinda looks like an aerial or satellite nighttime view of the California wildfires.

Wow, it does indeed look like a firescape.

[MarkBour]

(Mad, Mad, mad ...)

I was wondering if you might pick up on my made-up word "firescape".

You (and Spencer Tracy) did not disappoint. That movie had about every living comedian (at the time) in its cast, even Buster Keaton! It didn't age well, the humor seems just silly now (time is rough on comedy). But the fire escape scene is a classic.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.