Astronomy Picture of the Day 7-01-02

NASA ^ | 7-01-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

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.

2002 July 1

The Fox Fur Nebula
Credit & Copyright: Anglo-Australian Observatory, Photograph by David Malin

Explanation: The nebula surrounding bright star S Mon is filled with dark dust and glowing gas. The strange shapes that surrounding this star originate from fine interstellar dust reacting in complex ways with the energetic light and hot gas being expelled by the young stars. The region just below S Mon, the bright star in the above picture, is nicknamed the Fox Fur Nebula for its color and texture. The blue glow directly surrounding S Mon results from reflection, where neighboring dust reflects light from the bright star. The more diffuse red glow results from emission, where starlight ionizes hydrogen gas. Pink areas are lit by a combination of the two processes. S Mon is part of a young open cluster of stars named NGC 2264, located about 2500 light years away toward the constellation of Monoceros, just north of the Cone Nebula.

[petuniasevan]

It's an enhanced photo composite; it's made up of red, green, and blue-filtered exposures.
Such a technique brings out details not seen in a single full-spectrum exposure.

Don't forget to click the links; a lot of information and fun facts are there for the learning!

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[petuniasevan]

APOD PING!

[trussell]

That is too cool petuniasevan. Thank you for your daily pings. I am really hooked on these photos.

[2Trievers]

Thanks 'tunia ... Spectacular! &;-)

The stars are far brighter
Than gems without measure,
The moon is far whiter
Than silver in treasure.

- JRR Tolkien (The Hobbit)

[lds23]

Reminds me of the cover of King Crimson's "Islands" album:

[sistergoldenhair]

Thanks for the ping.
This one's incredible!

[Helix]

Nice! The technique gives a certain "depth" or 3-D quality to the photo. Thanks for explaining how it was done.

[headsonpikes]

starbump

[MozartLover]

WOW! This one's a keeper. Thank you!