PIX4619800: Nebula NGC 6559 in Sagittarius - NGC 6559 and IC 1274 - 75 in Sagittarius - Located in Sagittarius, this nebula is located at a distance of about 5000 years - light from Earth. Image made with the 1.2m Telescope of Schmidt UK from Siding Spring. This dusty region is probably associated with the brighter and better - known Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae which are nearby in the sky and part of the same molecular cloud. The soft red glow of fluorescent hydrogen is evidence that there are young hot stars associated with the dusty clouds. These bright stars also illuminate the tiny solid particles, producing blue reflection nebulae bordering some of the emission regions. The dust is also evident in silhouette, both as sinuous dark lanes winding through the luminous gas and as the dark patches obscuring the ancient, yellow stars that populate the central parts of the Milky Way / Bridgeman Images
PIX4620062: Eagle Nebula (IC 4703) in the Snake - detail - Young stars in the Eagle nebula - Detail on young stars located in the north - west part of the Eagle Nebula (M16). Image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. This picture shows the northwestern part of the Eagle nebula (M16), well away from the centre, and features some very bright young stars that formed from the same cloud of material. These energetic toddlers are part of an open cluster and emit ultraviolet radiation that causes the surrounding nebula to glow. The star cluster is very bright and was discovered in the mid - eighteenth century. The nebula, however, is much more elusive and it took almost a further two decades for it to be first noted by Charles Messier in 1764. Although it is commonly known as the Eagle Nebula, its official designation is Messier 16 and the cluster is also named NGC 6611. One spectacular area of the nebula (outside the field of view) has been nicknamed The Pillars of Creation”” ever since the Hubble Space Telescope captured an iconic image of dramatic pillars of star - forming gas and dust. The cluster and nebula are fascinating targets for small and medium - sized telescopes, particularly from a dark site free from light pollution. Messier 16 can be found within the constellation of Serpens Cauda (the Tail of the Serpent), which is sandwiched between Aquila, Sagittarius, and Ophiuchus in the heart of one of the brightest parts of the Milky Way. Small telescopes with low power are useful for observing large, but faint, swathes of the nebula, whereas 30 cm telescopes and larger may reveal the dark pillars under good conditions. But a space telescope in orbit around the Earth, like Hubble - - which boasts a 2.4 - metre diameter mirror and state - of - the - art instruments - - is required for an image as spectacular as this one. This picture was created from images taken with the Wide Field Channel of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images through a / Bridgeman Images
PIX4620193: Center of the Omega Nebula (M17) in the sagittarius seen by HST - Center of the Omega Nebula, a hotbed of newly born stars wrapped in colorful blankets of glowing gas and cradled in an enormous cold, dark hydrogen cloud. This picture was taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope. The region of the nebula shown in this photograph is about 3,500 times wider than our solar system. The area represents about 60 percent of the total view captured by ACS. The nebula, also called M17 and the Swan Nebula, resides 5,500 light - years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Like its famous cousin in Orion, the Swan Nebula is illuminated by ultraviolet radiation from young, massive stars, located just beyond the upper right corner of the image. Each star is about six times hotter and 30 times more massive than the Sun. The powerful radiation from these stars evaporates and erodes the dense cloud of cold gas within which the stars formed. The blistered walls of the hollow cloud shine primarily in the blue, green, and red light emitted by excited atoms of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. Particularly striking is the rose - like feature, seen to the right of center, which glows in the red light emitted by hydrogen and sulfur. ACS made this observation on April 1 and 2, 2002. The color image is constructed from four separate images taken in these filters: blue, near infrared, hydrogen alpha, and doubly ionized oxygen / Bridgeman Images
PIX4620228: Southern Crown Nebula - The Corona Australis nebula (NGC 6726 - 27 - 29) - R Coronae Australis is a region of star formations visible in the southern hemisphere. It is located about 500 light years away from Earth. Image made with Siding Spring's 3.9m telescope. This spectacular reflection nebula is the result of a few bright stars caught up in a large, dusty cloud. If that is all there was here, this region would be considered to be like the Pleiades, an accidental association of dust and stars. However, there are features here that show the dark cloud to be an active star forming nebula, though most of the action is hidden from view. The peculiar yellowish curved streak near the two bright reflection nebulae surround an intriguing object best seen in infrared light, R CRA, a young star still accreting interstellar material on to its surface. It seems to be the source of two compact but distinctly red patches which are Herbig - Haro objects, often the first visible signs of star formation occurring deep inside dark clouds. These compact nebulae are ejected from proto - stars during the later stages of star formation and sometimes appear in pairs, moving in opposite directions from the hidden star forming region. The R CRA complex is about 500 light years distant, one of the nearest star - forming regions / Bridgeman Images
PIX4619956: Eagle Nebula (IC 4703) and M16 star cluster in the Snake - Eagle nebula in Serpens - The Eagle Nebula is a cluster of massive young stars (M16) surrounded by clouds of gas and dust. The three columns in the center of the image were sculpted by the intense radiation emitted by these massive stars. Stars will be born in these clouds if they survive the intense radiation that erodes these pillars. Messier 16 is a cluster of young stars which formed about 2 million years ago from the gas and dust which still surrounds them. Brilliant blue stars of this type are much hotter than the Sun and can be up to thirty times more massive. The dark intrusions visible across the face of the nebula are condensations of dusty material which might one day collapse into yet more stars, should they survive the radiation from the bright stars, which is gradually etching them away. Bright red regions of photo - ionised hydrogen such as M16 are usually found in the spiral arms of galaxies and are often associated recent star formation. This example is about 6000 - 7000 light years distant / Bridgeman Images
PIX4620060: Eagle Nebula (IC 4703) in the Snake - detail - Star forming region in the Eagle nebula - View of a column of gas and dust in the Eagle nebula. This Pillar of creation “” is a region where stars are born. Stars in the Eagle Nebula are born in clouds of cold hydrogen gas that reside in chaotic neighbourhoods, where energy from young stars sculpts fantasy - like landscapes in the gas. The tower may be a giant incubator for those newborn stars. A torrent of ultraviolet light from a band of massive, hot, young stars (off the top of the image) is eroding the pillar. The starlight also is responsible for illuminating the tower's rough surface. Ghostly streamers of gas can be seen boiling off this surface, creating the haze around the structure and highlighting its three - dimensional shape. The column is silhouetted against the background glow of more distant gas. cloud. The dominant colours in the image were produced by gas energized by the star club's powerful ultraviolet light. The blue colour at the top is from glowing oxygen. The red colon in the lower region is from glowing hydrogen. The Eagle Nebula image was taken in November 2004 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. / Bridgeman Images
PIX4620315: Nebula of the crescent NGC 6888 in the Swan - Nebula of the crescent NGC 6888 in the Swan - NGC 6888 the nebula of the Crescent. This nebula is a gas shell located in the constellation Swan. The bright star in the center of the nebula is the star WR 136, a star of Wolf - Rayet, massive, very hot / Bridgeman Images
PIX4620458: Region in the constellation of Swan with in the high center the supergiant star Deneb. Numerous clusters of stars and nebulae are visible. Mosaic of 20 images covering a field of 12 degrees - The 20 frame mosaic spans an impressive 12 degrees across the northern end of Cygnus constellation. Several star clusters and nebulas are visible. Top middle is the bright supergiant star Deneb: Mosaique de la région nord du Swan - Northern Cygnus mosaic / Bridgeman Images
PIX4620728: Nebula NGC 7635 in Cassiopee - The Bubble Nebula: This nebula is located about 8000 light years from Earth. A star 40 times more massive than our Sun, called Wolf-Rayet, is responsible for the formation of this bubble; it is the star BD+60* 2522. Image obtained by the space telescope Hubble - The Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7635, is an emission nebula located 8 000 light-years away - This complete view of the Bubble Nebula allows us to fully appreciate the almost perfectly symmetrical shell which gives the nebula its name. This shell is the result of a powerful flow of gas - known as a stellar wind - from the bright star visible just to the left of centre in this image. The star, SAO 20575, is between ten and twenty times the mass of the Sun and the pressure created by its stellar wind forces the surrounding interstellar material outwards into this bubble-like form - The giant molecular cloud that surrounds the star - glowing in the star's intense ultraviolet radiation - tries to stop the expansion of the bubble. However, although the sphere already measures around ten light-years in diameter, it is still growing, owing to the constant pressure of the stellar wind - currently at more than 100,000 kilometers per hour! - This stunning new image was observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope / Bridgeman Images
PIX4620802: Nebula N44 in the Large Magellan Cloud - Superbubble LHA 120 - N 44 in the Large Magellanic Cloud - This image obtained by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) shows the nebula N44 surrounding the cluster of stars NGC 1929. It is a star-forming region located in the galaxy of the Great Magellan Cloud, about 170,000 light years from Earth. Eso's Very Large Telescope captured this striking view of the nebula around the star cluster NGC 1929 within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. A colossal example of what astronomers call a superbubble dominates this stellar nursery. It is being carved by the winds from bright young stars and the shockwaves from supernova explosions. This nebula is officially known as LHA 120 - N 44, or just N 44 for short. Hot young stars in NGC 1929 are emitting intense ultraviolet light and causing the gas to glow. This effect highlights the aptly - named superbubble, a vast shell of material around 325 by 250 light - years across. For comparison, the nearest star to our Sun is just over four light - years distant. The N 44 superbubble has been produced by the combination of two processes. Firstly, stellar winds - - streams of charged particles from the very hot and massive stars in the central cluster - - cleared out the central region. Then massive cluster stars exploded as supernovae creating shockwaves and pushing the gas out further to form the glowing bubble. Although the superbubble is shaped by destructive forces, new stars are forming around the edges where the gas is being compressed. Like recycling on a cosmic scale, this next generation of stars will breathe fresh life into NGC 1929 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4620374: Nebula of the crescent NGC 6888 in the Swan - Crescent nebula in Cygnus - NGC 6888, the nebula of the Crescent. This nebula is a gas shell located in the constellation Swan. The bright star in the center of the nebula is the star WR 136, a star of Wolf - Rayet, massive, very hot. The nebula NGC 6888 is a shell of gas that is being energized by the strong stellar wind from the Wolf - Rayet star WR 136, the bright star at the center of the nebula. It is located in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan. Wolf - Rayet stars are very hot, massive stars that are blowing off their outer layers / Bridgeman Images
PIX4620599: Nebula NGC 7129 in Cephee: Nebula by reflexion located 3300 light years from Earth. This nebula houses very young stars, aged less than a million years old. - NGC 7129 is a young compact star forming region which displays an unusual patchwork of colorful nebulosity and bright stars contrasted against the dust clouds of the Milky Way. NGC 7129 contains several bright reflection nebulae including the large blue reflection cloud NGC 7133 and the unusual small yellow reflection cloud LBN497. Also conspicuous in the field are several bright Herbig-Haro objects, the signatures of young stellar objects soon to emerge in the main sequence. The dominant blue reflection nebula, NGC 7133 is illuminated by two young B-type stars BD+65* 1637 and BD+65* 1638. Both stars are less than one million years old and represent the core of NGC 7129, a small cluster of low mass stars which populate the 36 light year wide cavity / Bridgeman Images
PIX4620841: Nebula NGC 346 in the Small Magellan Cloud - Nebula NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud - Photo of the nebula NGC 346, located about 210,000 years ago - light in the galaxy of the Little Magellan Cloud, obtained by the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope. Nebula NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a nearby irregular galaxy, seen by the 2.2 - metre MPG/ESO telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile / Bridgeman Images