Explanation: Not all roses are red of course, but they can still be very pretty. Likewise, the beautiful Rosette Nebula and other star forming regions are often shown in astronomical images with a predominately red hue - in part because the dominant emission in the nebula is from hydrogen atoms. Hydrogen's strongest optical emission line, known as H-alpha, is in the red region of the spectrum, but the beauty of an emission nebula need not be appreciated in red light alone. Other atoms in the nebula are also excited by energetic starlight and produce narrow emission lines as well. In this gorgeous view of the Rosette's central regions, narrow band images are combined to show emission from sulfur atoms in red, hydrogen in blue, and oxygen in green. In fact, the scheme of mapping these narrow atomic emission lines into broader colors is adopted in many Hubble images of stellar nurseries. This image spans about 50 light-years in the constellation Monoceros, at the 3,000 light-year estimated distance of the Rosette Nebula.These pictures are terrific and I like posting them. I don't plan to make this a daily posting, but for now they're worth looking at. Enjoy.
1 comment:
OK, I can't resist....you've posted a lovely, stunning even!, picture..and I'm sure you did so *because* you found it lovely and stunning (right?)! But if you didn't know what it was, would you *still* find it lovely and stunning? If so, how is it different from Bruce Barnbaum's lovely and stunning images from Slit Canyon in Arizona (Epiphanous Photo #7), that you commented on as somehow "too abstract"? A conceptual contradiction here; or at least foood for thought? *MY POINT* = the same reason *you* posted this Astronomy Pic of the Day on your Blog is the *SAME* reason I posted Bruce Barnbaum's photo on my blog...in both cases, it was because the Blogger found an image "beautiful"; inately beautiful!) Comments?
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