NASA Photo ID: S92-52109 File Name: 10063634.jpg
Film Type: 4x5 Date Taken: 12/30/92
Title: HST image of the Orion's Great Nebula "window-curtain" structure
Description:
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image shows the thin sheets of gas at the edge
of the Great Nebula in the constellation of Orion. These thin sheets of
gas discovered by HST's wide field/planetary camera (WFPC) have been
compared to rippled "window-curtains" and mark the boundaries between the
hot and diffuse inner regions of the Great Nebula and cooler and denser
neighboring cloud. The sheets of gas are seen in light that has been
emitted by atoms of gaseous sulfur (shown as red). Also visible in the
image is the emitted light from oxygen and hydrogen which appears in blue
and green. The light emissions of the gases are stimulated by the intense
ultraviolet radiation given off from a nearby cluster of particularly hot
and luminous young stars. The sulfur emissions are coming from a region
where the light from the young stars is"boiling off" material from the
face of the dense cloud.
Subject terms:
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
INTERSTELLAR GAS
ORION CONSTELLATION
ORION NEBULA
SATELLITE OBSERVATION
NASA Home Page
JSC Home Page
Imagery Services Home Page
Search
For questions about Manned Spaceflight images, please contact:
JSC Office of Public Affairs
External Affairs Branch
Mail Code AP4
2101 NASA Road 1
Houston, TX 77058
Fax: (713) 483-2000