The
Tulip Nebula
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
Framing
a bright emission region this
telescopic view looks
out along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the nebula rich
constellation Cygnus the Swan.
Popularly
called the Tulip Nebula the glowing cloud of interstellar gas and dust is also
found in the 1959
catalog by
astronomer Stewart Sharpless as Sh2-101.
About
8,000 light-years distant and 70 light-years across the complex and beautiful
nebula blossoms at the center of this composite image.
Red,
green, and blue hues map
emission from
ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms.
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.
HDE
227018 is the bright star very near the blue arc at the cosmic tulip's center.
Glowing across the electromagnetic spectrum, microquasar Cygnus X-1 and a
curved shock front created by its powerful jets lie toward the top and right.
