Cone Nebula Infrared Close Up
Explanation:
After astronauts
repaired NICMOS - the
Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer -
during the latest Hubble Space Telescope
servicing mission,
astronomers were quick to turn the sophisticated instrument
on the
photogenic stellar nursery
known as the
Cone Nebula.
This remarkable
NICMOS close-up of
the Cone Nebula
dramatically confirms that the Hubble's
infrared vision has been
restored.
Gas and dust clouds at the blunted tip of the cone-shaped
star-forming region
are seen here in false-color covering
an area about half a light-year across.
Toward the left hand side of the picture,
the four bright stars with
diffraction spikes
are also present in visible light images and are in front of the
Cone Nebula, itself 2,500 light-years away.
But the fainter stars to their right are embedded in or behind
the nebula's obscuring dust clouds and
are revealed only in this
penetrating
infrared view.
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.
