Swan Nebula,optical image taken by the new Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on April 1st & 2nd 2002. The Swan,or Omega,Nebula (M17,NGC 6618) is an emission nebula,a cloud of gas which glows as the gases it contains are ionised by ultraviolet radiation from hot young stars within it. The small dark blobs (Bok globules) seen silhouetted against the bright nebula (for instance on the white area at lower right) are very dense regions of gas and dust in which gas coalesces to form stars. The Swan Nebula lies around 5500 light years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius | |
Lizenzart: | Lizenzpflichtig |
Credit: | Science Photo Library / H.FORD, JHU / STSCI / ESA / NASA |
Bildgröße: | 3220 px × 2415 px |
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