Seagull Nebula
FYNebulas
FYNebulas
Seagull Nebula
APOD: The Seagull Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Sidonio
Explanation: This broad expanse of glowing gas and dust presents a bird-like visage to astronomers from planet Earth, suggesting its popular moniker - The Seagull Nebula. This portrait of the cosmic bird covers a 1.6 degree wide swath across the plane of the Milky Way, near the direction of Sirius, alpha star of the constellation Canis Major. Of course, the region includes objects with other catalog designations: notably NGC 2327, a compact, dusty emission region with an embedded massive star that forms the bird’s head (aka the Parrot Nebula, above center). IC 2177 forms the sweeping arc of the seagull’s wings. Dominated by the reddish glow of atomic hydrogen, the complex of gas and dust clouds with bright young stars spans over 100 light-years at an estimated 3,800 light-year distance.
(Source: fuckyeahtheuniverse)
APOD - Seagull Nebula
Seagull Nebula
Seagull Nebula
This infrared mosaic from NASA’s WISE shows the Seagull nebula (or IC 2177), which draws its common name from it resemblance to a gull in flight. The image spans an area about seven times as wide as the full moon, and three times as high, straddling the border between the constellations Monoceros and Canis Major.
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.
Astronomers list the region near the seagull’s eye as NGC 2327, which contains a cluster of stars born about 1.5 million years ago. The eye is the brightest and hottest of the newborn stars in the entire nebula, and heats up the dust so that it glows in infrared light.
High-Res: 4888×2000 px - 1 MB
Credit: NASA/JPL
Seen as a seagull and a duck, these nebulae are not the only cosmic clouds to evoke images of flight. But both are winging their way across this broad celestial landscape, spanning almost 7 degrees across planet Earth’s night sky toward the constellation Canis Major. The expansive Seagull (upper left) is itself composed of two major cataloged emission nebulae. Brighter NGC 2327 forms the head with the more diffuse IC 2177 as the wings and body. Impressively, the Seagull’s wingspan would correspond to about 250 light-years at an estimated distance of 3,800 light-years. At the lower right, the Duck appears much more compact and would span only about 50 light-years given its 15,000 light-year distance estimate. Blown by energetic winds from an extremely massive, hot star near its center, the Duck nebula is cataloged as NGC 2359. Of course, the Duck’s thick body and winged appendages also lend it a more dramatic popular moniker — Thor’s Helmet.
Seagull Nebula
