Inside the Flame Nebula
Explanation:
The Flame Nebula
is a stand out in optical images of the dusty, crowded star forming regions
toward Orion's belt and the easternmost
belt star Alnitak, a mere 1,400 light-years away.
Alnitak is the bright star at the right edge of this infrared
image from
the Spitzer Space Telescope.
About 15 light-years across, the infrared
view takes you inside the nebula's glowing gas and
obscuring dust clouds though.
It reveals many stars of the recently formed, embedded cluster
NGC 2024 concentrated near the center.
The stars of NGC 2024 range in age from 200,000 years to 1.5 million
years young.
In fact, data indicate that the youngest stars are
concentrated near the middle of the Flame Nebula cluster.
That's the opposite of the simplest models of star formation
for a stellar nursery that predict
star formation
begins in the denser center of a molecular cloud core.
The result requires
a more complex model for star formation
inside
the Flame Nebula.
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.
