<![CDATA[Randal Healy]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6756 en-us Gallery 2 RSS Module, version 1.1.7 Thu, 28 Mar 2024 06:58:24 -0600 120 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=6764 <![CDATA[Randal Healy]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6756 <![CDATA[M48 RGB copy Final]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6819 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6819
Markarian's Chain is a stretch of galaxies that forms part of the Virgo Cluster. When viewed from Earth, the galaxies lie along a smoothly curved line. Charles Messier first discovered two of the galaxies, M84 and M86, in 1781. The other galaxies seen in the chain were first mentioned in John Louis Emil Dreyer's New General Catalogue, published in 1888. It was ultimately named after the Armenian astrophysicist, Benjamin Markarian, who discovered their common motion in the early 1960s. Member galaxies include M84 (NGC 4374), M86 (NGC 4406), NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435. Six of the points on the chain can be marked by galaxies. The other two points are pairs of galaxies.]]>
Randal Healey photo Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:12:50 -0700
<![CDATA[M42 Orion Final 3]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6816 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6816
M42 The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across. It has a mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun. Older texts frequently refer to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in Orion or the Great Orion Nebula. The Orion Nebula is one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky, and is among the most intensely studied celestial features. The nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers have directly observed protoplanetary disks, brown dwarfs, intense and turbulent motions of the gas, and the photo-ionizing effects of massive nearby stars in the nebula.]]>
Randal Healey photo Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:10:35 -0700
<![CDATA[IC2177 80x300 Final]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6813 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6813
IC2177

This cosmic cloud is one of many sites of star formation within the Milky Way galaxy. It is located 3,800 light-years away from Earth, inside the Orion spur -- the same partial spiral arm of the Milky Way where our solar system is located. The nebula is nearly 240 light-years across.]]>
Randal Healey photo Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:09:23 -0700
<![CDATA[Rosette HOS LRGB Final 5]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6810 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6810
The Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) is a large spherical H II region (circular in appearance) located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter. The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of some 5,000 light-years from Earth and measure roughly 130 light years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excites the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10,000 solar masses. A survey of the nebula with the Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed the presence of numerous new-born stars inside optical Rosette Nebula and studded within a dense molecular cloud. Altogether, approximately 2500 young stars lie in this star-forming complex, including the massive O-type stars HD 46223 and HD 46150, which are primarily responsible for blowing the ionized bubble. Most of the ongoing star-formation activity is occurring in the dense molecular cloud to the south east of the bubble. A diffuse X-ray glow is also seen between the stars in the bubble, which has been attributed to a super-hot plasma with temperatures ranging from 1 to 10 million K. This is significantly hotter than the 10,000 K plasmas seen in HII regions, and is likely attributed to the shock-heated winds from the massive O-type stars.]]>
Randal Healey photo Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:07:45 -0700
<![CDATA[NGC7635 - LRGB Publish Final Image 2]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6807 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6807
NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula

The Bubble Nebula is 7 light-years across – about one-and-a-half times the distance from our sun to its nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri – and resides 7,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. The seething star forming this nebula is 45 times more massive than our sun. Gas on the star gets so hot that it escapes away into space as a "stellar wind" moving at over 4 million miles per hour. This outflow sweeps up the cold, interstellar gas in front of it, forming the outer edge of the bubble much like a snowplow piles up snow in front of it as it moves forward. As the surface of the bubble's shell expands outward, it slams into dense regions of cold gas on one side of the bubble. This asymmetry makes the star appear dramatically off-center from the bubble, with its location in the 10 o'clock position in the Hubble view.
Dense pillars of cool hydrogen gas laced with dust appear at the upper left of the picture, and more "fingers" can be seen nearly face-on, behind the translucent bubble. The gases heated to varying temperatures emit different colors: oxygen is hot enough to emit blue light in the bubble near the star, while the cooler pillars are yellow from the combined light of hydrogen and nitrogen. The pillars are similar to the iconic columns in the "Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula. As seen with the structures in the Eagle Nebula, the Bubble Nebula pillars are being illuminated by the strong ultraviolet radiation from the brilliant star inside the bubble. The Bubble Nebula was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel, a prominent British astronomer. It is being formed by an O star, BD +60°2522, an extremely bright, massive, and short-lived star that has lost most of its outer hydrogen and is now fusing helium into heavier elements. The star is about 4 million years old, and in 10 million to 20 million years, it will likely detonate as a supernova.]]>
Randal Healey photo Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:06:52 -0700
<![CDATA[NGC7380 Wizard Final 2]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6804 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6804
NGC 7380 (also known as the Wizard Nebula) is an open cluster discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. William Herschel included his sister's discovery in his catalog, and labelled it H VIII.77. It is also known as 142 in the 1959 Sharpless catalog (Sh2-142). This reasonably large nebula is located in Cepheus. It is extremely difficult to observe visually, usually requiring very dark skies and an O-III filter.

Located 7200 light years away, the Wizard nebula, surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer. The active star forming region spans 100 about light years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be located with a small telescope toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus). Although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.]]>
Randal Healey photo Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:05:44 -0700
<![CDATA[WitchHead PI Final Final]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6801 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6801
IC 2118 (also known as Witch Head Nebula due to its shape) is an extremely faint reflection nebula believed to be an ancient supernova remnant or gas cloud illuminated by nearby supergiant star Rigel in Orion. It lies in the Eridanus constellation, about 900 light-years from Earth. The nature of the dust particles, reflecting blue light better than red, is a factor in giving the Witch Head its blue color. Radio observations show substantial carbon monoxide emission throughout parts of IC 2118, an indicator of the presence of molecular clouds and star formation in the nebula. In fact candidates for pre-main sequence stars and some classic T-Tauri stars have been found deep within the nebula.

The molecular clouds of IC 2118 are probably juxtaposed to the outer boundaries of the vast Orion-Eridanus bubble, a giant supershell of molecular hydrogen blown by the high mass stars of the Orion OB1 association. As the supershell expands into the interstellar medium, favorable circumstances for star formation occur. IC 2118 is located in one such area. The wind blown appearance and cometary shape of the bright reflection nebula is highly suggestive of a strong association with the high mass luminous stars of Orion OB1. The fact that the heads of the cometary clouds of IC2118 point northeast towards the association is strong support of that relationship.]]>
Randal Healey photo Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:04:35 -0700
<![CDATA[TriangulumNBRGBCombination_DBE Final]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6798 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6798
Triangulum Galaxy – Messier 33

The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, behind the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye.

The galaxy is the smallest spiral galaxy in the Local Group and it is believed to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy due to their interactions, velocities, and proximity to one another in the night sky. It also has an H-II nucleus.]]>
Randal Healey photo Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:03:49 -0700
<![CDATA[SH2_132_HSO_copy_PI_Final_DBE 4]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6795 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6795
SH2-132 (otherwise known as The Lion Nebula) Is a large emission nebula located between the border of the Cepheus and Lacerta constellations.
If you’ve never heard of it before, as most haven’t, don’t feel too bad. SH2-132 might be large, but it’s rather faint and obscure; It’s still somewhat easy to find. It lurks in close proximity to three distinct stars—Epsilon, Zeta Cephei and Delta—arranged in a triangle-formation. The nebula is about 1.0 degree from Epsilon, which forms a straight line with SH2-132 and Zeta.

SH2-132’s appears to belong to the Cepheus OB1 association, which also boasts one of the largest known stars in existence: an orange hypergiant known as RW Cephei. It may not, however. There’s a chance they are merely in the same field of view. What’s known is that two objects—Wolf-Rayet stars known as WR 152 and WR 153 respectively—do most of the ionization. Several other OB-type stars are scattered about.

Sh2-132 is located at a distance of almost 3200 parsecs (nearly 10400 light years ), thus placing itself inside the Arm of Perseus.]]>
Randal Healey photo Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:02:50 -0700
<![CDATA[SH2-199 Final copy 2]]> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6792 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=6792
SH2-199 or the Soul Nebula is an emission nebula located in the constellation Cassiopeia. Several small open clusters are embedded in the nebula: CR 34, 632, and 634 (in the head) and IC 1848 (in the body). The object is more commonly called by the cluster designation IC 1848. Small emission nebula IC 1871 is present just left of the top of the head, and small emission nebulae 670 and 669 are just below the lower back area.

This complex is the eastern neighbor of IC1805 (Heart Nebula) and the two are often mentioned together as the "Heart and Soul".

The nebula, spans an area of sky equivalent to four full moons and is about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. Like other massive star-forming regions, such as Orion and Carina, it contains large cavities that were carved out by radiation and winds from the region's most massive stars. According to the theory of triggered star formation, the carving out of these cavities pushes gas together, causing it to ignite into successive generations of new stars.]]>
Randal Healey photo Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:01:06 -0700