Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
The Flame Nebula in Infrared
Explanation:
What lights up the Flame Nebula? Fifteen hundred light years away towards the constellation of Orion [ http://www.astro.wi…] lies a nebula which, from its glow and dark dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] lanes, appears like a billowing fire. But fire [ http://tqd.advanced…], the rapid acquisition of oxygen [ http://chemlab.pc.m…], is not what makes this Flame [ http://www.astrocru…] glow. Rather the bright star Alnitak [ http://einstein.stc…], the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] visible to the nebula's right, shines energetic light into the Flame [ http://adsabs.harva…] that knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen [ http://www-tech.mit…] gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons [ http://pburton.maps…] and ionized hydrogen recombine. The above false-color picture [ http://www.ipac.cal…] of the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) was taken in infrared [ http://www.us-gemin…] light, where a young star cluster becomes visible. The Flame Nebula [ http://www.astrocru…] is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], a star-forming region that includes the famous Horsehead Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].
Credit and Copyright:
2MASS Collaboration [ mailto:vandyk@ipac.c altech.edu ], U. Mass. [ http://pegasus.phas…], IPAC [ http://www.ipac.cal…]
keyword:
dust
keyword:
nebula
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_what:
Orion
facet_what:
Gemini
facet_what:
Pegasus
facet_what:
ALNITAK
facet_what:
nebula
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap990713

The Flame Nebula in Infrared
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