Horsehead Nebula Outer Space Photograph
by Bill Swartwout
Title
Horsehead Nebula Outer Space Photograph
Artist
Bill Swartwout
Medium
Photograph - Fine Art Photography
Description
This enhanced space image of a public domain photograph captured through the Hubble Space Telescope (our tax dollars at work) would look great in any home or office. Or houw about in a child's room or even a man-cave?
Caption from the Hubble Heritage Project website: The Horsehead was photographed in celebration of the 23rd anniversary of the launch of Hubble aboard the space shuttle Discovery. Over its two decades of producing ground-breaking science, Hubble has benefited from a slew of upgrades, including the 2009 addition of a new imaging workhorse: the high-resolution Wide Field Camera 3 that was used to take this portrait of the Horsehead.
The backlit wisps along the Horsehead's upper ridge are being illuminated by Sigma Orionis, a young five-star system just off the top of the Hubble image. A harsh ultraviolet glare from one of these bright stars is slowly evaporating the nebula. Along the nebula's top ridge, two fledgling stars peek out from their now-exposed nurseries.
The Horsehead Nebula is part of a much larger complex in the constellation Orion. Known collectively as the Orion Molecular Cloud, it also houses other famous objects such as the Great Orion Nebula (M42), the Flame Nebula, and Barnard's Loop. At about 1,500 light-years away, this complex is one of the nearest and most easily photographed regions in which massive stars are being formed.
Hubble's pairing of infrared sensitivity and unparalleled resolution offers a tantalizing hint of what the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, set for launch in 2018, will be able to do.
Caption credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Image credit: "NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)."
Uploaded
September 7th, 2018
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Viewed 1,202 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/18/2024 at 6:02 AM
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Comments (3)
Hans Zimmer
Awesome! L/F
Bill Swartwout replied:
Thank you, Hans. I have been fascinated with space ever since I was a child.
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