Saturday, February 13, 2021

Reflection Nebula NGC 1788

Reflection Nebula NGC 1788
Click on the image for higher resolution (18.1 MB)

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. NGC 1788 is an unusual reflection nebula (bluish white at the center of the image) surrounded by a glowing red ring of hydrogen gas. The stars inside the nebula are only about a million years old, which is very young compared to most stars. The ring of glowing hydrogen gas is energized by nearby hot, massive stars not visible in the image. The image was generated with observations in the B (blue), I (orange) and Hydrogen-Alpha (red) filters. In this image, North is up, East is to the left.
Image Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) & S. Pakzad (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
Image enhancement: Jean-Baptiste Faure

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