Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2003 April 25 
Posted on 04/24/2003 9:24:26 PM PDT by petuniasevan
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2003 April 25
Explanation: Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, these fantastic, undulating shapes lie within the stellar nursery known as M17, the Omega Nebula, some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. The lumpy features in the dense cold gas and dust are illuminated by stars off the upper right of the image and may themselves represent sites of future star formation. Colors in the fog of surrounding hotter material indicate M17's chemical make up. The predominately green glow corresponds to abundant hydrogen, with trace sulfur and oxygen atoms contributing red and blue hues. The picture spans about 3 light-years and was released to celebrate the thirteenth year of the Hubble Space Telescope's cosmic voyage of exploration.
I will be on vacation from June 2nd through June 9th.
If anyone would like to volunteer to post APOD during that time, please FReepmail me.
Otherwise the APOD will not be posted as I will be visiting relatives in California.
M17, the Omega Nebula, is also known as the Swan Nebula. It's in the constellation Sagittarius, near its northern border.
It's an emission nebula. This means that the gases present are glowing because of the ionizing radiation of hot young stars hidden within.
Here's an infrared photo of the Omega. You can see the bright stars which power this nebula's glow.
The Omega Nebula (magnitude 7.00) is an easy object if you know where to look. There are many even more spectacular sights in its area to distract you. Below is a finder chart.
Coordinates are RA 18h 21.193min, dec. -16o 10.51'
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