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Nestled within the intense petals of the Rosette Nebula is NGC 2244, the young star cluster it supported.
(Image credit: Image credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/ NSF/AURA; Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab ), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab )))
What it is: The Rosette Nebula
Where it is: 5,000 light-years away, in the constellation Monoceros, the unicorn.
When it was shared: Oct. 1, 2024
Why it’s so unique: The Rosette Nebula is a huge offer. At about 130 light-years throughout, it’s approximately 5 times the size of the Orion Nebula — the closest star-forming area to Earth– and about 4 times further away, according to the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLabIt consists of a great deal of gas and dust. If that sounds dull, reconsider– simply take a look at this incredible image from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) in Chile.
Those shimmering colors are brought on by the ultraviolet radiation produced by the nebula’s enormous stars. That radiation ionizes (electrically charges)the surrounding hydrogen gas. In this picture of the nebula, you can see tones of yellow and gold(ionized oxygen), red(ionized hydrogen) and pink(ionized silicon).
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At the center of the 377-megapixel image is NGC 2244, a bluish cluster of young, enormous stars that has actually shaped and lit up a big cavity within the surrounding gas. NGC 2244 has to do with 2 million years of ages– a baby, in cosmic terms– and formed after the nebula’s gases coalesced into clumps united by their shared gravity. They provide the Rosette Nebula its radiant “eye.”
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An uncropped variation of the image. ( Image credit: Image credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/ NSF/AURA; Image Processing: T.A. Rector(University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)))
If you look carefully at the main space, you’ll see “elephant trunks,” or pillars of dust that mark the shift from the ionized hydrogen near the hot, young stars to the cooler hydrogen beyond. They’re in trunk-like shapes due to the fact that, as the shell-like space broadens beyond the star cluster, the clumps of cooler gas withstand.
We’re seeing this “cosmic rose” at simply the correct time– within about 10 million years, the radiation from the hot, young stars of the cluster will have dissipated the nebula.
The image– likewise readily available as a zoomable variation– was released to mark the 5th anniversary of NOIRLab, the U.S. nationwide center for ground-based, nighttime optical and infrared astronomy. It was taken utilizing the 570-megapixel DECam, which is installed on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in the southern Atacama Desert in Chile.
For more superb area images, have a look at our Area Photo of the Week archives
Jamie Carter is an independent reporter and routine Live Science factor based in Cardiff, U.K. He is the author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners and lectures on astronomy and the natural world. Jamie routinely composes for Space.com, TechRadar.com, Forbes Science, BBC Wildlife publication and Scientific American, and numerous others. He modifies WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com.
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