Orion Nebula: The 2MASS View
Explanation:
Few astronomical sights excite the imagination like the nearby
stellar nursery known as
the Orion Nebula.
The Nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an
immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1,500 light-years away.
This
distinctively detailed image of the Orion Nebula was constructed
using data from the
2 Micron All Sky Survey or 2MASS.
Using
telescopes in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of
planet Earth,
the
2MASS project has mapped the entire
sky in infrared light.
The
wavelength of infrared light is longer than visible light but more
easily penetrates obscuring dust clouds.
2MASS cameras were sensitve to near infrared wavelengths
around 2 microns or about 0.00008 inches.
Visible light has a wavelength of about 0.00002 inches.
Survey
observations in three infrared bands were translated to blue,
green, and red colors to produce this composite image.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
