| "The sky is the ultimate art gallery just above us." - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 82) |
Astrophotography by Jason Jennings |
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| Nebulae :: NGC1999 | |
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| Resolutions Available: 800x600 : 1600x1200 : 2400x1800 | |
| Object | NGC1999 |
| Comment |
Located in the constellation Orion, this image shows a portion of Orion's giant molecular clouds known as 'Orion A' where new stars are forming. At the center of the image is reflection nebula NGC1999, which contains the young star V380 Orionis. A small, triangle shaped patch of dusty material is seen in silhouette against the reflection nebula. NGC1999 lies at the center of a network of nebulous filaments which flow outward. The area consists of several powerful jets of gas which are often the first visible manifestations of the birth of young stars. These jets punch holes through the opaque clouds in which the star is formed, holes through which the light of the new-born stars can escape to produce what are known as reflection nebulae. The out flowing jets from young stars also power luminous shock waves known as Herbig-Haro (HH) objects, which move through the surrounding gas at speeds of up to hundreds of kilometres per second. As these shock waves ram their surroundings, they heat up bow-shaped nebulae of glowing plasma. The region to the right of the NGC1999 reflection nebula contains a cluster of deeply embedded young stars. These objects were first recognized by Guillermo Haro and George Herbig around 1950 and today they are known as HH 1 and HH 2. Recent observations indicate that the cone shape located near the at the top of the image (known as HH 401) may be a giant bow shock powered by the source of the HH 1 & 2 outflow. The arc of light which looks like a waterfall (located below the cone shape) is the enigmatic object HH 222. Unlike most other HH objects, it is a source of polarized, non-thermal radio waves. The nature of this feature remains largely unknown. Source NOAO An annotated image produced by Sakib Rasool is available here for reference. Thanks Sakib. The image is a [Ha+L][Ha+R]GB composite |
| Optics | Modified ASA N16 Astrograph F/3.5 (1420mm FL) |
| Camera | Apogee Aspen CG16070 - 1x1 bin (image scale: 1.07 arcsec/pix) |
| Mount | Software Bisque Paramount ME |
| Exposure | Total exposure time: 12 hours |
| Date | March 2016 |