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IC 4603: Reflection Nebula i
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| Title |
IC 4603: Reflection Nebula in Ophiuchius |
| Explanation |
Why does this starfield photograph resemble an impressionistic painting [ http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/impressionism/ ]? The effect is created not by digital trickery [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030324.html ] but by large amounts of interstellar dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html ]. Dust, minute globs rich in carbon [ http://www.nyu.edu/pages/mathmol/modules/carbon/carbon1.html ] and similar in size [ http://www.lakeair.com/particle.html ] to cigarette smoke [ http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/smoke.html ], frequently starts in the outer atmospheres of large, cool, young stars. The dust [ http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Li/Li_contents.html ] is dispersed as the star dies and grows as things stick to it in the interstellar medium [ http://www-ssg.sr.unh.edu/ism/intro.html ]. Dense dust clouds are opaque [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030202.html ] to visible light [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html ] and can completely hide background stars. For less dense clouds, the capacity of dust to preferentially reflect blue [ http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.org/why-is-the-sky-blue.html ] starlight becomes important, effectively blooming the stars blue light out and marking the surrounding dust. Nebular gas emissions, typically brightest in red light [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/emission_nebulae.html ], can combine to form areas seemingly created on an artist's canvas. Photographed above [ http://ryutao.main.jp/english/stl_ant.html ] is roughly four square degrees of the nebula IC 4603 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060714.html ] near the bright star Antares [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antares ] toward the constellation [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation ] of Ophiuchus [ http://www.seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/Fig/ophiuchus.html ]. |
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IC 4603: Reflection Nebula i
…
| Title |
IC 4603: Reflection Nebula in Ophiuchius |
| Explanation |
Why does this starfield photograph resemble an impressionistic painting [ http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/impressionism/ ]? The effect is created not by digital trickery [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030324.html ] but by large amounts of interstellar dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html ]. Dust, minute globs rich in carbon [ http://www.nyu.edu/pages/mathmol/modules/carbon/carbon1.html ] and similar in size [ http://www.lakeair.com/particle.html ] to cigarette smoke [ http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/smoke.html ], frequently starts in the outer atmospheres of large, cool, young stars. The dust [ http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Li/Li_contents.html ] is dispersed as the star dies and grows as things stick to it in the interstellar medium [ http://www-ssg.sr.unh.edu/tof/Outreach/Interstellar/index.html?what1.html ]. Dense dust clouds are opaque [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030202.html ] to visible light [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html ] and can completely hide background stars. For less dense clouds, the capacity of dust to preferentially reflect blue [ http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.org/why-is-the-sky-blue.html ] starlight becomes important, effectively blooming the stars blue light out and marking the surrounding dust. Nebular gas emissions, typically brightest in red light [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/emission_nebulae.html ], can combine to form areas seemingly created on an artist's canvas. Photographed above [ http://home.earthlink.net/~gstevens916/pic4603.htm ] is roughly one square degree of the nebula IC 4603 [ http://www.psiaz.com/Schur/astro/filmimagepages/rho.html ] near the bright star Antares [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980726.html ] toward the constellation [ http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/history/exhibits/constellations/timeline.html ] of Ophiuchus [ http://www.seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/Fig/ophiuchus.html ]. |
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East of Antares
| Title |
East of Antares |
| Explanation |
East of Antares [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020526.html ], dark markings seem to sprawl through the crowded star fields toward the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Cataloged in [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/ bib_query?1919ApJ....49....1B ] the early 20th century by astronomer E. E. Barnard [ http://astro.uchicago.edu/yerkes/virtualmuseum/ Barnardfull.html ], the obscuring interstellar dust clouds include [ http://www.saguaroastro.org/content/ Best-of-Barnards-Dark-Nebulae.htm ] B72 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050521.html ], B77, B78, and B59, seen in silhouette [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001229.html ] against the starry background. Here, their combined shape suggests smoke rising from a pipe, and so the dark nebula's popular name is the Pipe Nebula. This gorgeous and expansive view [ http://panther-observatory.com/gallery/deepsky/doc/ Pipe_200mm.htm ] was recorded in very dark skies over Hakos, Namibia [ http://www.fallingrain.com/world/WA/40/Hakos.html ]. It covers a full 10 by 7 degree field in the pronounceable [ http://www.astronomyclub.org/learn/Say_What.htm ] constellation Ophiuchus. |
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