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).

Credit:

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

Over de afbeelding

Id:eso-flame
Type:Observatie
Publicatiedatum:3 december 2009 23:20
Grootte:2044 x 2075 px

Over het object

Naam:Flame Nebula, NGC 2024
Type:Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission
Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Afstand:1500 lichtjaren
Constellation:Orion
Categorie:Nebulae
Stars

Afbeeldingstypen

Grote JPEG
1,2 MB

Achtergrond

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

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

Kleuren & filters

BandGolflengteTelescoop
Optisch
B
433 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC
Optisch
V
544 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC
Optisch
R
648 nmDanish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC