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Credit & Copyright: Anirudh Shastry
Explanation:
When can you see a black hole, a tulip, and a swan all at once?
At night -- if the timing is right,
and if your telescope is pointed in the
right direction.
The complex and beautiful
Tulip Nebula blossoms about 8,000
light-years away toward the
constellation of Cygnus the Swan.
Ultraviolet radiation from young energetic stars
at the edge of the Cygnus
OB3 association, including
O star HDE 227018,
ionizes the atoms and powers the emission from the Tulip Nebula.
Stewart Sharpless cataloged this nearly 70 light-years
across reddish glowing cloud of interstellar gas and dust in
1959, as
Sh2-101.
Also in the
featured field of view is the black hole
Cygnus X-1,
which to be a
microquasar because it
is one of strongest
X-ray
sources in planet Earth's sky.
Blasted by powerful jets from a
lurking
black hole,
its fainter bluish curved
shock front
is only faintly visible beyond
the cosmic Tulip's petals, near the right side of the frame.
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Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: emission nebula
Publications with words: emission nebula
See also: