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).

Crédit:

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

À propos de l'image

Identification:eso-flame
Type:Observation
Date de publication:3 décembre 2009 23:20
Taille:2044 x 2075 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:Flame Nebula, NGC 2024
Type:Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission
Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Distance:1500 années lumière
Constellation:Orion
Catégorie:Nebulae
Stars

Formats des images

Grand JPEG
1,2 Mio
JPEG taille écran
311,4 Kio

Fonds d'écran

1024x768
302,4 Kio
1280x1024
466,3 Kio
1600x1200
644,1 Kio
1920x1200
757,0 Kio
2048x1536
1003,2 Kio

Coordinates

Position (RA):5 41 42.73
Position (Dec):-1° 54' 43.66"
Field of view:13.42 x 13.63 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 45.1° left of vertical

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineLongueur d'ondeTélescope
Visible
B
433 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC
Visible
V
544 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC
Visible
R
648 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC