A cosmic flame

Sparkling at the edge of a giant cloud of gas and dust, the Flame Nebula, also referred to as NGC 2024, is in fact the hideout of a cluster of young, blue, massive stars, whose light sets the gas ablaze. Located 1,300 light-years away towards the constellation of Orion, the nebula owes its typical colour to the glow of hydrogen atoms, heated by the stars. The latter are obscured by a dark, forked dusty structure in the centre of the image and are only revealed by infrared observations.

This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, combining three exposures in the filters B (40 seconds), V (80 seconds) and R (40 seconds).

Crediti:

ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, J.-E. Ovaldsen, C. Thöne and C. Féron

Riguardo l'immagine

Identificazione:eso-flame
Tipo:Osservazione
Data di rilascio:Giovedì 03 Dicembre 2009 23:20
Grandezza:2044 x 2075 px

Riguardo all'oggetto

Nome:Flame Nebula, NGC 2024
Tipo:Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission
Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Distanza:1500 Anni luce
Constellation:Orion
Categoria:Nebulae
Stars

Formati delle immagini

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1,2 MB

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1600x1200
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1920x1200
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2048x1536
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Coordinate

Position (RA):5 41 42.73
Position (Dec):-1° 54' 43.66"
Field of view:13.42 x 13.63 arcminutes
Orientazione:Il Nord è a 45.1° a sinistra della verticale

Colori e filtri

BandaLunghezza d'ondaTelescopio
Ottico
B
433 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC
Ottico
V
544 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC
Ottico
R
648 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC