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APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 5:06 am
by APOD Robot
Still Life with NGC 2170
Explanation: In this beautiful
celestial still life composed with a cosmic brush, dusty nebula
NGC 2170 shines at the upper left. Reflecting the light of nearby hot stars, NGC 2170
is joined by other bluish
reflection nebulae, a compact red
emission region, and streamers of obscuring dust against a backdrop of stars. Like the common household items
still life painters often choose for their subjects, the clouds of gas, dust, and hot stars pictured here are also commonly found in this setting - a massive,
star-forming molecular cloud in the constellation
Monoceros. The giant
molecular cloud, Mon R2, is impressively close,
estimated to be only 2,400 light-years or so away. At that distance, this canvas would be about 15 light-years across.
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Re: APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 6:48 am
by bystander
Re: APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 11:59 am
by moontrail2
Are these images real?
Let's say real for the naked eye considering the case that it could be able for a human being to come closer enough.
Disregarding indeed the false colour images, and taking into account only the light enhancement, maybe even a black shoe on earth under sunlight with enough light enhancement will result in a bright full colourful piece. Is this the "real" image of the black shoe perceived for a human being?
Maybe it is not only me interested in knowing the aspect of the universe just to the naked eye close enough to the sidereal objects.
Thank you and all the best for 2011!
Re: APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:17 pm
by orin stepanek
The photo is stunning enough to be saved as wallpaper: which I did!
![Cool 8-)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)
Thanks APOD
Re: APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:57 pm
by Heinlein
Does anyone else see a demon materializing out of "space" and swooping in for the attack in this still life?
It is an absolutely breathtaking image.
Re: APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 5:26 pm
by Boomer12k
It looks like a horse's head with a mane. The open area with the blue star is an eye.
Cool pic.
Re: APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 5:30 pm
by katieM
It looks like a person with a shiny mask and an a sword held aloft standing on the back of some giant winged beast swooping into battle. New wallpaper for me too!
Re: APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 6:06 pm
by Ann
This is a fantastic portrait of a remarkable star forming region, taken by a highly skillful and wonderfully dedicated astroimager, Adam Block.
Perhaps the most dramatic aspect of this skyscape is the torn and tattered shreds of apparently coal-black dust. The dark color of the dust is due to the fact that it is neither backlit nor illuminated in such a way that it scatters light. But perhaps it may indeed contain tiny, tiny grains of coal, too, so that it may be coal-black for real. The tattered appearance of the dust is a powerful reminder of the energetic events accompanying starbirth. The dust is clearly pounded by strong outflows and perhaps jets from from the baby stars in the nebula.
At center left of the picture the dust turns reddish-brown. Here the dust is indeed backlit by, probably, a combination of smallish emission nebulae associated with jets of the not yet fully formed stars in the nebula and highly reddened light emerging from the young stars buried in the dust.
Blue reflection nebulae are also seen. Here dust scatters blue starlight in much the same way as the atmosphere of the Earth scatters blue light from the Sun all over the Earth's sky. The stars associated with the reflection nebulae in this picture are hotter and bluer than the Sun, however. The blue-looking dust appears to be lined up along magnetic lines associated with the nebulae.
There is a magenta-colored "backdrop" to most of the nebular action here. The magenta color is almost certainly caused by a combination of dust-scattered blue light from hot stars and a relatively faint largish pink emission nebula, caused by the ultraviolet light of the hot stars and perhaps also powered by jets and outflows of the baby stars.
All in all, this is a fantastic region of the sky, extremely dramatic and wonderfully colorful in appearance. And Adam Block has created a superb image of it all.
Ann
Re: APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:31 pm
by bactame
There are several images, many provided by APOD as well, which contain NGC 2170 but this particular is the most striking. Yet the image is small pixel-wise and the ~700 kB image isn't as nicely presented until it is reduced to 160 kB seen on the APOD and Blocks linked page. The black to brown areas of the image are the most striking at that.
Re: APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 8:50 pm
by rstevenson
Thanks for your analysis Ann. I learn more every time you do that.
Rob
PS
I hope you're having a colourful holiday.
![Wink ;-)](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Re: APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 9:23 pm
by neufer
Boomer12k wrote:
It looks like a horse's head with a mane. The open area with the blue star is an eye.
Re: APOD: Still Life with NGC 2170 (2010 Dec 30)
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 10:12 pm
by Beyond
Where's a good fly-swatter nebula when you need one
![Question :?:](./images/smilies/icon_question.gif)