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Credit & Copyright: Arno Rottal
(Far-Light-Photography)
Explanation:
The Rosette Nebula is not the only cosmic cloud of gas and dust to
evoke the imagery
of flowers -- but it is the most famous.
At the edge of a large
molecular cloud
in Monoceros, some 5,000 light
years away, the petals of this
rose are actually a
stellar nursery whose lovely, symmetric shape is
sculpted by the
winds and radiation from its central cluster of
hot young stars.
The stars in the
energetic cluster, cataloged
as NGC 2244,
are only a few million years old, while the central cavity in the Rosette Nebula,
cataloged as NGC 2237, is about 50
light-years in diameter.
The nebula can be seen
firsthand with a small telescope toward the constellation of the
Unicorn (Monoceros).
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: NGC 2244 - Rosette Nebula - stellar nursery
Publications with words: NGC 2244 - Rosette Nebula - stellar nursery
See also: