Saturday, 24 December 2011

Merry Christmas

credit: hubblesite.org
With the aid of the Hubble Space Telescope astronomers discovered this bipolar star-forming region in the Milky Way galaxy, called Sharpless 2-106. It looks like an angel spreading her wings. The nebula lies about 2,000 light-years from us, and it measures several light-years in length. It is heated by a young star, IRS 4 (= Infrared Source 4). The two lobes of super-hot gas, glowing blue in this image, stretch outward from the central star. This hot gas creates the 'wings' of the angel.


I wish all my followers a Happy and Peaceful Christmas Season!
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6 comments:

  1. Alex Rotatori24 December 2011 at 08:12

    Happy Xmas, Petr!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paul Carley24 December 2011 at 13:42

    Sorry to be a pedant, but...

    An angel spreading 'her' wings?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kraut24 December 2011 at 19:46

    @Alex: Thanks!
    @Paul: 'his' or 'its' - whichever you prefer!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beatrice Portinari25 December 2011 at 09:03

    Gorgeous vision. Thanks!

    My guardian angel definitely spreads HER wings.

    ReplyDelete
  5. John Maidment25 December 2011 at 15:27

    Merry Christmas, Petr.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kraut25 December 2011 at 19:09

    @Beatrice: I'm glad you like my selection!
    @John M: Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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