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Credit & Copyright: Bowen James Cameron
Explanation:
The sky is filled with faintly glowing gas, though it can take a
sensitive camera and telescope to see it.
For example, this twelve-degree-wide view of the
northern part of the constellation
Cygnus
reveals a complex array of cosmic clouds of gas
along the plane of our
Milky Way galaxy.
The featured mosaic of telescopic images was recorded through two
filters: an
H-alpha
filter that transmits only visible red light from
glowing hydrogen atoms,
and a blue filter that transmits primarily light emitted by the slight
amount of
energized oxygen.
Therefore, in this 18-hour exposure image, blue areas are
hotter
than red.
Further digital processing has removed the myriad of point-like Milky Way stars from
the scene.
Recognizable bright nebulas include
NGC 7000 (North America Nebula), and
IC 5070 (Pelican Nebula) on the left with
IC 1318 (Butterfly Nebula) and
NGC 6888 (Crescent Nebula) on the right --
but others can be found throughout the wide field.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
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: Cygnus - emission nebula
Publications with words: Cygnus - emission nebula
See also: